This is the third and concluding part in the series. Also go through the previous parts to get the connecting link for this last portion:
I started the year 2017 with 96 on the weighing scale. It's been five months since I had started this weight loss journey. Uptil now, I was able to bring down my weight by 9 Kilos. So for me that surely was a tremendous achievement. It was the first month when I received something in return for the efforts of past five months. I was able to measure my success. The first image or memento of my success was my waist belt. The original, when purchased, had 9 holes to lock the pin. I had to pierce 3 more for there was some change in my waist line. Then, the second trophy came with the alteration of my trousers. Initially I altered my 44 Inch waist trousers to Size 42. I did go for shopping of new shirts in Jan 2017 but that was of my same old size. Although I wasn't aware then that we can even alter our shirts, for the simple reason, I had never done that activity in the past. The main addition in January was the weighing scale itself. I finally got my own machine. So now clocking weight daily was to become a daily activity. And it is my personal recommendation to have your own machine or atleast use the same machine to keep a track of weight as weeks/months pass by. The main reason behind this is a simple logic. Each device might show fluctuations which can, sometimes, be demotivating. Hence recording on the same device may help you in tracking your progress with less amount of fluctuations.
Another huge addition was my sports shoes. Up until now, I was weyar slippers or sandals for my daily walk sessions. The basic rationale behind not purchasing earlier was my own history. I wasn't sure I will continue this journey. Morning walks is something I have been doing for quite some years. As I have been Overweight, and later an obese, for most of life, losing a few kilos was always there on the table. It's just that I started many things, but never took it to the conclusions. Never took those tasks seriously. So this time I had put myself to test before buying the luxuries. By January, five months had passed since I started the journey. But the important thing that made me take the decision of procuring these things was the results. Nothing motivates more, than positive outcome of your efforts. In this case I was able to see the change. From 105, I had touched down now to 96 Kilos. So things were moving in the desired direction. And when results happen, you tend to put in more efforts to maintain the consistency levels. Hence the bulk purchases. They were like a personal reward or a pat on the back for doing good and to continue doing the same.
With new arsenal in the kitty the walking cavalcade kept moving. Daily 4 KM was the average for the morning walk sessions. Just a brisk walk. Nothing fancy. The climbing of steps, twice 14 floors and once 9 floors, was further in addition to the 4 KM walk. January had only one big event, or I may say a tragically hilarious event. This outing, which should not be named, was suppose to result in increase in weight. And considering the variety of food we tried there the weighing scale was surely going to be a nightmare. But then some experiences are worth the risk. Hence I chose to be a part of it. And the risk did pay off. The outing was scheduled for the Republic Day weekend. I had many variety of food items, be it in grass (Veg) or animals or desserts. But when I checked my weight post returning it clocked 94 Kilos as February 2017 dawned. Surprising it was indeed. But for me the risk had paid off. A great adventure plus no impact on my weight loss programme. Indeed, a Happy New Year.
Life was smooth in February. Pacer statistics were growing by the day. Achieving the daily 10K steps target or drinking the full quota of water and keeping a track on BMI had become a part of life. At the end of each morning session I was looking forward to next day session. By this time my friends and family were now getting adjusted to the new routine of mine. So the pursuing part of eating something from the outside was fading away. During working days, if the regular lunch group planned for a lunch in a restaurant, they were getting used to one person on the table with his Tiffin box. That's the only restriction I had. When people tell me you are on diet, I wonder what does that exactly mean. Because whatever was prepared at home I use to eat it all. Sweets are something that can be a bit troublesome during weight loss program which is why I had remove them from my diet. The total ban was only on the outside food.
However, you need to keep something from your old habits alive to keep things moving. If you cut down everything all of a sudden, then again that might back fire and it won't change that status quo. So I had kept chocolates. Never did I put a restriction on them. Obviously, this doesn't mean I use to buy and consume them as a part of my diet. It's just that whenever I came across them on someone's birthday or some other occasion, I surely use to relish the opportunity. It just satisfies the desires of your tongue. Plus it also acts as an indirect motivation. There wasn't much of a movement in my weight in this month. The average of dropping 2 Kilos per month had gone for a toss. I had started Feb with my weight somewhere just below 92 and ended the month at 92 on the weighing scale.
Summer of 2017 began. March was a heavy month. The biggest statistics were always recorded in this month. Be it in 2017 or 2018. There was some additional duty scheduled in this month for me. Due to a downfall in some chapters of my life, I had started classes for a particular course. The lectures for the same use to be at 7 AM. This can be a more than fair reason to give for not going for a morning walk. But luckily that ME, then, was a bit motivated. So I had rearranged my schedule to suit the new timings. I use to get up at 4 AM. Do the morning chores, have a glass of honey lemon water and then leave for my walk. By 430 or 445 I use to be in the garden. Since I had to come back home, have breakfast and get ready for classes and work. Hence I didn't opted to go for the usual long walk on the road. A small stint in the garden for around 45 minutes was all that I could manage then. Although, in that small stint, daily I use to wage a war against those whose mere mention sends shivers down my spine. I am dead scared of crawling creatures. So when I use to reach the small circled garden in the morning, I always had to pesture the security persons to switch on the lights. Most of the time these guys would switch On only half of the gardens light, for switch of the other half use to be on the other end inside the gymnasium. And after a long night duty, they always use to be lazy to do the same. But since I was aware of the things that waited for me inside, I had to force them to do so, which resulted in a daily war of words in the morning.
My intention to switch On all the lights was very clear. For quite some hours there hasn't been any human movement in that place, hence these so called crawlingos use to come out of their underground territory and have a free ride. So until the security guys don't start all the lights in the garden I never use to move in. Once that task is done, comes the more bigger one. The first round. I use to be filled with terror during this initial circle. I remember walking each step full of caution. In order to avoid being scared, my defense mechanism use to be to avoid eye contact i.e. look around on the walls or trees. The worst case use to be the frogs. Not sure from where they use to come out. Once while walking, when I wasn't aware of their presence, one of the them just walked away on my foot. I can't express the amount of fear I experienced at that moment. All I remember is, had I participated in a Long Jump Event at that very moment, I surely would have bagged a Gold. Somehow I mustered courage and looked back to check which breed of dinosaur it was. Before it could get back into the hole I was able to get a glimpse of it. It was a frog. Bit relaxed was I and continued my walk.
This was my new ordeal now. Like I mentioned above, due to time constraints, my morning walk was now restricted only for 45 minutes. But throughout the day a lot of walking use to happen. Walking towards classes from railway station and back, walking towards office from railway station, climbing stairs, walking home from office etc. So it use to get compensated. As at that moment it was all about priorities. I had to do one thing but couldn't let go the other. So March schedule was taking a huge toll on me. I remember how much sleepy I use to be in office. However apart from the heavy schedule, March 2017 was important for a specific milestone. I still remember the date. It was 7th March. As per regular timetable I checked my weight in the morning. And for the first time in almost a decade I had touched the figure of 89. It was 89.9 to be exact. Although it generally takes time to settle on a particular figure but the gates were opened now. As per my initial targets, this was supposed to be the Level II. After coming into Overweight from obesity (Three figure weight to Two Figure), next target was to qualify for Sky Diving which required a person to be below 90kilos. So, I won't say I had achieved it, but surely I had touched the figure. And so with a new hope I kept on.
Come April. This wasn't that of a significant month for I was continuing my regular routine. I hadn't added any new item in my exercise schedule. But it surely was a bit frustrating one. Once you have tasted blood one can't be satisfied for anything lesser. And that is what was troubling me. After the opening gate ceremony of the 80s on March 7th, it took almost two months i.e. until April end for the weight figure to quit the 90s and make the jump to stability in the 80s. My situation was like the employee who had cracked the interview in the organisation he wanted to and is eager to join in. But has to go through the ordeal of notice period in the old company. So this period was a bit moody and some of my friends use to get the taste of it. (PS: I am Sorry). Oh yes, one important event did happen in this month. Officially it was the first month after August 2016 when I had one full meal outside. It was my father's birthday. On a normal day I could have said no to outside stuff. But being his birthday I thought of being flexible. We had dinner at Mini Punjab. April ended with 89.3 on the weighing scale.
Now the final month of summer 2017. It was the month of May that finally saw changes in my outward appearance. Up until now, my routine had completely changed. New habits had become a part of life. And to such extent that incase I missed a day, I use to get that guilt feeling. Back in January, I had altered my clothes to fit into the new size. Though I wasn't aware shirt can be altered hence I had only done that for my trousers and went on to purchase some new shirts. Now, those altered version of trousers had also become lose and the new four months old shirt too. So I gave a thought. It was, finally, time to change my wardrobe. I can still the remember the 10-12k approx bills with Red Black Royal and Aqua Blue shirts of Size 40 and four trousers with a pair of 38 inch and 36 inch each for formal wear. Also two shirts of size L and two jeans of waist 40 Inch for casual wear. There were many other likes which I fulfilled in this wardrobe change activity. Some of them were long time due. For starters, it was the first time I didn't use the term "Full Size Batao" while shopping for apparels. As now I had options in size, which I think was the first time in my life since I started shopping on my own. Next was the choice of colours and patterns of shirt. As blue is my favourite colour, so this was surely on the list. However I always wanted to wear a Red and a Black colour shirt. These two colours were always banned when shopping controls were in the hands of parents. So for the first time I was going to wear these colours. And more importantly, the pattern. Always I have been wearing shirts with some or the other pattern but never plain colour. So this was a first time too. The change in wardrobe made things visible now to naked eye. People started asking variety of questions starting with What, Why, How, When etc. To be honest, I was enjoying my bit, of being in the limelight.
From my experience I did see that summer does help in fastening the calorie burning process. By the time the month ended I had clocked 86.5 Kilos on the weighing scale. That was a good 3 Kilos drop in a month. One more than my average of 2 Kilos each month. The new look brought new responsibilities. It had set new targets to be achieved. A drop of 6.5 Kilos approx. in 3 months made it one of the best summers.
And now comes the monsoon. The final section in the series of my blogpost about of weight loss. It has been 10 months since I started the journey. The same 4-5 KM walk in the morning was still On. Outside food was still on a complete ban list. Some amount of walking towards workplace was reduced now on account of new set of clothes. Now the venue for morning walk was set to change. I am not a fan of carrying umbrella for morning walk sessions. So I had to figure out something as monsoon was about to begin in full force. Fortunately, my residence has a public gym for the use of society members. So now during the rains instead of walking on the road, which is my usual course, I opted for the Treadmill. The important reason to choose this option was to curb the laziness. The moment I get up in the morning and hear the sound of rains, immediately mind sends a signal of not going for the walk session and going back to sleep. To make sure this doesn't happen, the treadmill option was to be exercised. This also meant I was officially going to the gym now. The burning of fats process was On, but the statistics in Pacer App were now coming down. So in the gym I also use to try the cycle and elliptical. Another shift that I had made was using the garden in the building premises for jogging purpose. There was a time when I would think a 100 times atleast before going for even a walk in the park, let alone be jogging. The people staring at you would always use to have an impact on me. But the new me was not thinking that way now. The only reason for the same was, now, results were speaking for me. I didn't had to tell anyone what I had achieved. It was visible. And that's my way of communicating, which I always follow. May be that's why the name, The Silent Player. So jogging for around 25-30 minutes in the small park and then treadmill for 15 minutes in the gym along with the elliptical for the same amount of time. This was now the new routine.
With July came the biggest D-Day. The completion of One Full Year of this journey. Also the health check up camp was organised at the workplace in the same month, the trigger which had made me start this journey a year ago. The monsoon count that started from 86.4 Kilos in June had come down to 83.6 Kilos on the D-Day. For the first time the BMI App showed my weight in green, which has been in red colour since I had started recording in it. The health check up doctor had no comments to offer on my weight apart from mentioning the word Good in that file. Previously on the same corresponding file, the doctor had a list of suggestions for me to improve. Moreover, that reaction on the doctor face too wasn't that welcoming. So to close that account indeed gave a sense of satisfaction. In a year, I had brought down 21.4 Kilos without spending a penny on any dietitian or any gymnasium. Without taking any suggestions or opinions. Just doing my own research and continuing in my own pace. Not pressuring myself at all, instead trying to motivate myself sometimes even by being lazy. I still cannot believe that all this is real. That it has actually happened. In all my previous attempts, all I could conclude was that it was never going to happen. But now after scaling one mountain, the view truly is amazing. This journey has surely thought me many things, apart from the weight loss. Things which I may not be able to list out, but deep inside I feel them.
A journey which for many years had been a dream. With new benchmark, now, I had to be more alert. There is a famous quote by a planet changing Man, Albert Einstein, that says "If Facts Don't Fit The Theory, Change The Facts." Well, with due respect to the great man, I have my own reservation on the quote. Theory when established was done with the data available back in that era. In this fast moving 21st Century, when things are changing with snap of a finger, how can a theory which was established in a different century suit the requirement of the present day world. And this has also been applicable in my journey. The way I started this journey, not necessary, that is the way it will continue. There has to be changes in the course, be it small or huge. And only these changes keeps the spice alive in it. Today when I complete this final post, I have almost completed 26 months. And when I look back now, there are many things I have done or been doing which are no more similar to the ways or patterns in which I started them. I am not sure until when I can continue this. Being an obesity guy for most parts of my life, gaining weight isn't a big task for me. Just skip the routine for a week or two and I will be back with a rising statistic. Though the monster pattern of hogging is not there but the monster is still alive inside. And it just needs one tickle to wake him. May be that won't perish so easily, which is why this journey is going to be life long one or atleast till my legs provide support for the same.
One thing I can surely say, it is the biggest achievement of my life. A rare feat. Obviously it is not something that someone else can't breach but to have my name in that elite list of people who could do it, itself is an honour. Now the task at my hand is to be in the list of those who were able to maintain what they had achieved. Let's see !!
-SR.
May The Force Be With You (And, Here, Me Too) !!
