My Tryst with Weight Loss

Resorting to eating is the easiest way to seek comfort, we all know that. Food makes us feel good, it makes our tastebuds come alive and it even makes us feel the love that went in to making them delicious. Few, though, talk about dangers of food when consumed beyond a point. I am not talking about those food items loaded with empty carbs, they are bad, everyone knows that, I’m speaking about even those food items that we are told are healthy, all the time.

After an hour of sweating out at gym, it’s easy to gobble 5-6 idlies with same number of bowls of sambhar mixed with generous dollops of ghee, for they are healthy right? I used to do that often thinking it to be so. And come on I just worked out, I am hungry and this is good food, I thought, and I couldn’t have been more wrong.

After kms and kms of puffing and panting and finishing my half marathons, I used to load up with endless carbs, for days together after that marathon – Idly, poori, masala dosa, upma, kesari and what not. Possibly in the next 2-3 days after that 21km run, I would have consumed enough calories to more than compensate for all that I lost during the run. I felt entitled, and all that over-eating seemed well-deserved, for I have just run so much, no? NO! I was just hurting myself more than I could have ever imagined with this entitled attitude.

Come covid, all the working out shifted indoors. All that the home workouts did, was make me hungrier and hungrier. And it was just easier to eat the first edible thing my eyes fell on after an intensive workout. Many times those were quick to make/reheat stuff, like frozen parathas, some left over food from previous day, some sandwich that could be put together in 2 min etc. It was no surprise that by the end of 2 years of working from home, I was 15kgs heavier than when I started. This, despite trying all possible things to stay active. Bicycling, walking, running, aerobics and what not.

Thankfully my diet program with Amura happened at the right time, when my weight touched my 10th std board exam % in kgs, thankfully it did not touch my 12th Std board exam %! With this program, I learnt a ton about my body and about the food habits I have been engaging in so far with which I have punished my body. Here are the some of the things I have learnt so far;

Food is enough in small quantities. We won’t die of starvation today, but we could die of overeating, not immediately, but eventually!
Protein is king! In moderation that is.
Empty carbs are just that, empty, no matter how good they taste.
Some food items are just not good for you, no matter what you were told while growing up.
Good food would make you feel energetic and happy, not lethargic and sleepy!
Most importantly, by eating right, you are treating yourself right, and you deserve to be treated right!
Today, food is more of a poison than medicine.

Getting to this state of enlightenment wasn’t easy and did not happen overnight. There were times I was so unhappy with my restricted food choices, that I was grumpy all day. Going out with friends felt miserable, especially when I had to stick to salads, while everyone around were enjoying all sorts of tasty food. Cooking “normal” food for family members, but not being able to enjoy the fruits of that labor was quite frustrating too. Yet overtime, it started feeling normal.

Today, a lot more items have been added to my list of allowed food items, yet, I am finding more comfort in egg white omlets and salads than with anything else. I think our body adjusts well, and as the saying goes, the challenge is to quieten the mind. Thanks to the support from the team from amura, I am able to shut my mind up whenever needed, and I am more mindful now about what goes into my body. I am halfway through the program and this is the change I have seen so far.

As I am pushing through the rest of the grind, I would like to leave you with one thing my friend, who did this program earlier, told me. Contrary to popular belief, this is easier done than said, he said. And midway into my dieting, I can tell with certainty, that those words can’t get any truer.

The closing video thus is the series of collages which would clearly show a lot more things that became possible with my weight loss. Gaining confidence, glow and happiness from inside, among others.

Update after 3 months of Amura :

This is the updated weight loss collage, which has before amura, during amura and end of amura pics;