Okay, so I've attempted to lose weight over last 2 years unsuccessfully. I've tried and failed hard. Mostly because of lack of discipline. And I was only focusing on the end goal, which is to shed the extra KGs but was never giving enough attention to the "HOW" bit. I've tried Keto, IF, gym, so many times over last 2 years that it's a joke now.
Before I get to my present state, I want to step back and talk about how I became what I became (in a completely negative way)
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Started living independently for the first time in a new city for 3 months. That was the first sign of - dude stop. Ate out 3 times a day cause I was living in a really really shabby PG and the food sucked. Office canteen had junk biscuits and savoury snacks. And then the weekend outings which became weekdays too and alcohol was pouring in my system like no tomorrow.
- Cut forward to one year, I maintain my old weight although a few KGs heavier than previous years and this is when shit starts to really get bad. First job, exploring the city, eating out became more often. And I gain another 5-6 kgs by the end of the year. This is the first time I touch 100 Kg. I don't pay much attention. Yes, I am stupid. - ordering out became a routine from a weekend only thing. And I ate out multiple dinners, carb loaded lunches, heavy breakfasts too on some days of the week. I somehow "thought" I compensated for that by cycling long distances on my bike but my frequency was not much at all.
Doing all of this for last 2 years really made me gain weight like crazy. I went from 100-124KGs till the lockdown started. Before that I atleast used to burn 300 cals almost daily with badminton. Then that stopped too, thanks to COVID-19. My sleep cycle got fucked, my anxiety levels on all time high and what do I turn to for instant gratification? Hello junk food my old friend.
I've somehow gotten used to live with it, but don't get me wrong. I abhor my lifestyle and my junk eating habits. But still I fall in the vicious trap of it. Some reasons I can think:
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Too lazy to cook. I know basic basic cooking, anything beyond, if I try I make it really bad.
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Craving for a particular thing. Well, luckily I don't have a sugar craving but equally unluckily I have other cravings. And they are very random. Randomest dishes from random places and I'd eat them for weeks until the place shuts downs or I get bored.
Mood: The thing is, I get attached to food. Like if I've a bad day I need to make myself feel better and food helps me with that. You know that feeling when everything in your life is going south, well atleast a cheeseburger is there by your side. I replaced my feeling of happiness or sadness with stuffing a doughnut.
It is complex. Whenever I started I never accounted for all these things. I just focused on how much I want to lose weight, try IF for 4-5 days and then celebrate 1KG weight loss with a fucking oversized lunch on weekend. And damn alcohol, damn alcohol. It makes the whole process so hard. So, if you start drinking in the evening, with some unhealthy snacks and sugar filled beverage, it only gets worse. The next morning is hangover and it is DAMN HARD to eat healthy in a hungover state. And all the "gains" (loss actually) over the week just fizzles down, you're left unmotivated and continue with the old lifestyle. The amount of times I've been stuck in this cycle is uncountable.
Okay, so what is it that I'm doing differently this time? Why will I not fail this time? Well, a cliched answer but this time I am focussing on making small changes and habits. Instead of cutting out on eating out all at once, I've reduced to order once and that also something which doesn't exceed 500 Cals. Some rules: No sugar, should have protiens, avoid unhealthy fats. I am recording my daily food intake on MFP. Anything which goes in, is recorded. I get a rough estimate of how much I am eating. Note, at this point I haven't done anything special. The first step is to gather data points. So I could use them and not follow blind advise.
Previously, I used to just grab a packet of chips without thinking much. Now, I know if I am eating it I have to make a note about it in this app. And I don't wanna waste 300-400 cals on a airy packet of chips which fills you up only for half an hour.
I am NOT following any diet. No Keto. No IF either. I am just sticking to basics of avoiding to eat TOO many calories. Just sticking on plain old cal-counting method and create enough deficit to reduce weight. IF also achieves the same but has some other benefits. But going back to my original point of taking small changes — VERY IMP for me to stick to one change for sometime, make it a routine and pick another small habit. I want to record all my meals for the next 21 days atleast and have a good amount of dataset. I will think about doing IF Only after that. I also need to incorporate some exercises and I'm planning to start by walking around 6-7k steps daily and then over a month increase to 10k daily. More on that by next week. Some other hacks I did: I feel hungry in mornings AND Night so IF for me is tough. But what I did was to totally stop ordering breakfast from outside. Cook 2/3 eggs or museli or vermicelli (broken rice). I make a nice cup of ginger tea with it and that my friends is the most satisfying meal of my day.
After lunch I have a sudden urge to eat something sweet to you know make it COMPLETE. I either take youghurt or some fruit after it to feel satiated till evening. Another trick to reduce ordering, although I won't recommend this much: I got frozen packet of snacks. So if i REALLY felt to eat something during evening I replaced it with just prepping it myself. This doesn't help much with cals (easy 400-500) but it just gives a sense of satisfaction that I didn't order from outside.
I am damn proud that alrthough my sleep cycle is whacked these days, I haven't ordered in midnight even once. I wanna continue this and see how far I go. The next week updates will not be this long, I guess but I plan to record each week for sure. On the days I feel demotivated, I'd read my past self preparing/motivating the future me.
Fin!
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