Meera tries weight loss

I have been about 15 lbs overweight for past 15 or so years. It is hard to remember when I started to gain weight. I took weight loss as one of my goals, I want to share my experience with you. As of this writing, I lost about 8 lbs. I am still struggling with weight loss so the process is far from over.

 I went down the wrong path several times. Each mistake took me anywhere from two months to two years to learn. So, I decided to write down what worked and what did not work for me. I have marked what worked for me and what did not. I hope you find it useful to learn from my mistakes.

TL/DR: To lose weight eat less.

To lose weight cut down Calories:  

Verdict: The Truth and only truth!

This is the only thing that worked for me. Tons of veggies and carefully monitoring food intake. Drinking plenty of water during the day to help curb appetite.

It is so easy to overeat. Our social life is associated with food - family dinners to social gatherings. Food is an integral part of our life. One can easily overeat . A few nibbles here and there and calories will add up quickly.

We used to eat out a lot - having busy lives meant that we didn't have time to cook. Every restaurant visit is marked either as no progress or weight gain. Portion sizes served in restaurants are way out of proportion. I had to stop going out to eat to make a dent on the scale. Clean eating was so easy to cook! Clean eating is not you deprive yourself every day of comfort food - instead, it is a much-simplified form of food. Now I actually crave green smoothie!

salmon + broccoli dinner

Theory: Your inner beauty is what matters. You shouldn't care about your weight

Verdict: False -False !

I have used this classic line multiple times to justify my increasing waistline. There is nothing healthy or sexy about weight gain. Weight gain was never an issue for humans living in the previous era. Your prehistoric ancestors will quickly prey to a predator if they cannot run or move fast enough. We do not face predators in our daily life in the modern era - but it doesn't mean we are free to be overweight.

Nobody told me that I was gaining weight.  We live in politically correct society. The weight gains creep on us slowly - that people around us do not notice small changes accumulated over a number of years. The change in you is attributed to  'aging' and not regarded as 'harmful'.

Now that I have lost very few pounds (kg), random people compliment me about my weight loss. But no soul ever told me that I was gaining weight and I looked not my best.

Theory: To loose weight and get fit, go to the gym:

Verdict: False.

My first step to lose weight and get in shape was to join in the gym and hire a trainer.  

"Weight loss is 75% diet and 25%exercise."

Looking at the above fact,  weight loss game is won in the kitchen and not in a gym. I wonder why I choose to join a gym as the first step?  In hindsight, I found out my reason.

The decision was influenced mostly by the media. When you see shows such as Biggest Loser or Extreme makeover, shows are mostly about training and barely about diet. Sweating and pumping weight makes a great reality show!

What do you conclude? to lose weight, join the gym. That is exactly the mistake I did. I pretty much burned my time wasting hours in a gym while not paying enough attention to diet.Workouts and fitness is and should be a key part of your life. But, it provided me a wrong narrative.

"I worked out today and I feel absolutely fatigued and tired. I must have burned many calories exercising. I can eat to my heart's content"

You can never out burn the calories you eat by exercising. I have been trying to lose weight in the gym for past 10 years.  In essence, I was following classic definition of insanity 'Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.'  

If I were focused on dieting and got my weight under control, I would have been better equipped at exercising. Less weight would have been easier on my knees.

Never the less, I am very regular to the gym. This is me at Zumba Class..

Theory: Have one cheat day a week:  

Verdict: False

I do not understand where this myth came from. Even experts in weight loss say one cheat day a week is okay. They probably saying this to make people feel good about weight loss process and a false sense of hope.

I was targeting losing 1 lb a week. There are 7 days in a week. One day a week is assigned to 'cheat day'. After cheat day, it will take me 3 days to neutralize the effect of cheat day and get back on track to previously recorded weight. That leave me just 3 days in a week to make any progress. Your body does not understand 'cheat day' - Calories consumed even on cheat day remain with you.

Theory: Follow no sugar  diet:

Verdict: False

Reducing sugar from your diet is important - but it is only one part of the weight loss equation. The bottom line is you need to limit your calorie intake per day. If you eliminate sugar but continue exceeding calories per day, you will gain weight instead of losing it.

Another part of the equation is sticking with no sugar diet. There is sugar on every table at any given time. Magazine covers are loaded with pictures of sugary treat. There is no event that you can attend that does not serve sugar.  Sugar is so omnipresence. It is hard to maintain your no-sugar diet. I tried no-sugar diet for 2 months, while not monitoring overall calories. The result was minimal weight lost.

Theory: Never skip your breakfast - breakfast is most important meal:

Verdict: Mostly false

Again, where did this come from? For about couple of months, I ate high protein breakfast - with practically no change in weight.

After losing precious 2 months, I realize that this assertion is wrong. The real question you should ask is 'Are you hungry?'.

Letting clock tell you when and what to eat is a sign that you are ignoring your body's hunger signal. You are conditioning your body to listen to clock rather than it's own hunger signal. You lose weight when total calories you eat in a day falls below daily required calories. It really doesn't matter when are you consuming your calories.

In my case, I found myself stuffing food in morning out of habit. So, I stopped. I started to eat when I felt hungry. If I was hungry at 11 AM in the morning that was the time when I had breakfast.

Theory: Trying to reduce weight will slow down your metabolism:

Verdict: False

This may be true for the obese person in 'made-for-TV' weight loss results.  

The conventional wisdom of 'eat less and move more' applies for 99% of situations. So, why focus on 1% of scenario?

Going forward:

What worked for me is listening to my body. Listening to my body for the hunger signal -

"Eat when you are hungry stop eating when you are full".

If I follow my own findings, I am sure I can lose remaining 8 lbs.

So, feel free to share your thoughts - I need every ounce of motivation !'

Resources:

The chemical part went over my head a bit, but the message was useful.

The mathematics of weight loss | Ruben Meerman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuIlsN32WaE

Another person I followed

Masala Body by Nagina

http://masalabody.com/

I do not believe research done by this guy..

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-i-lost-50-pounds-rejecting-conventional-wisdom-weight-bozinny?trk=v-feed&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3B901CdAzSsSIL8hyFqgrnrw%3D%3D