Indspire Me

When I woke up this morning a thought drifted into my mind. Many people have great ideas and visions of achieving them. But something  as intangible as low self confidence often stops them from taking action steps towards their goals. Often this low self confidence is a result of unhappiness about their fitness, health and well-being. It is further drained by the harsh and judgmental comments of people around us, even, sometimes our near and dear ones.
In a society that is as obsessed with looks as ours, this can be very intimidating. We may stop venturing out and networking with people, being fearful of their censure. We may stop trying out for the opportunities that we should, ideally be grabbing with both hands. We get stuck into our own head, listening to the voices of others. We stop loving ourselves as much as we used to.
Then, we try to get fit. Especially in India, we try all sorts of gimmicks and miracle diets. We shell out our hard earned money on  sauna slim belts, weight loss massage equipments and diet pills. We seem to be craving a magic wand, that will, like a fairy godmother, solve all our problems.
I was motivated to write this post because, as some one who has healthily lost weight, 10 kilos over a space of three months, and is now in a normal weight range for her age and height, I wanted to share my personal process with you. If it could benefit anyone in their journey to become more fit and healthy, it would be of great honour and satisfaction to me. My process  very simple, easy to understand and is based on simple science. The calories you consume have to be less than the calories you burn. That’s it. The following is the three step process I used to lose weight.

1. I installed a calorie counting app called My Fitness Pal in my iPhone. I started tracking my daily calorie counts into it. For three months, I was on a diet of 1400 calories a day. You can adjust the number of calories you wish to consume as per your age, intensity of physical activity, job and lifestyle. Please use common sense around this and listen to your body. Don’t starve yourself. 1400 calories worked for me. They may not work for you. Or you may be comfortable even consuming lesser than that. Just listen to your body.
2. I exercised for one hour every day. Half an hour of brisk walking plus half an hour of weight training.
3. I incorporated more protein rich foods into my diet, but I did not cut out carbs altogether. Although I tried to eat as healthily as possible, I was not too fussy about what I ate. I wanted to keep myself motivated and stick to the diet. More than anything else, I just focused on the calorie count. I did not deprive myself of my favourite foods. In fact once a week, on Sunday, I would have a normal day. This would in fact refresh my metabolism and make the process of losing weight even faster.So, there you have it folks. I just followed the steps mentioned above and dropped 10 kilos in three months. This was a year ago and I have happily maintained my weight since then.                                                                                                                                                    You can try this if you’re looking for a break from constantly being on the lookout for the latest weight loss fad. I rarely talk about my personal weight loss journey and never thought that I would actually write about it on Indspire Me. But I just couldn’t resist myself, as this is a real problem that many people are facing. At the end, I do want to say that please don’t be too harsh on yourself. Please be gentle with yourself. Don’t get too de-motivated if you fall off the wagon. Just pick yourself up and try again. Even if the world around you is being harsh to you, remember to just love yourself first and be your own best friend. Take care!

 
By Name Withheld on Request