Walking

Health and Fitness
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I may not be the glamorous example of fat to fit, but I represent the 99% common people who feel that they are not looking good enough to fit into the kind of dresses they like. Many times I felt that I should give up my desires to fit in those fitting V-neck T-shirts, boot cut jeans because I felt that I don't have any control on my weight. For past couple of years I had been wearing 34" pants even though my waist was crossing 35" uncomfortably tight in the crotch area and myself trying to keep cool. I even thought of "ageing gracefully" by adding still more weight and shifting to Dhoti's, pyjamas bidding an adieu to my jeans, T-shirts with a sigh.

Weight Loss

But all changed when I accompanied Aadhithya for swimming classes. I too enrolled along with him and attended the classes for just 3 weeks before we discontinued the classes. But my body showed considerable changes in the appearance which was pointed out by my friends in the office. That gave a thrust in getting back to Cardio exercises. I had already attempted gymming in 2007 and 2010 for 3 months each and met with little success too. But at that time I had no idea about the importance of nutition and cardio then. But this time I understood that nutrition is all 90% whereas workouts form the rest 10% in fitness. So we started with nutrition first.

Our dietary plans went for a complete overhaul. We ate lot of sprouts, soya chunks, grilled chicken, compulsary chappati at night, included Oats, dates... avoided Oil as much as possible, sugar replaced with honey. I started drinking Green Tea 3-4 times a day. Nutritionally we made sure that we cut down fat to the lowest and carbs to a maximum. I realised (even though can't claim to be expert) the 'working' composition of food for each body types. Atleast I can't keep adding extra calories / empty calories unknowingly.

I presented myself with a Btwin Roadbike for my birthday in June and I started cycling to office. This was rejuvenating because I need not wait endless hours for public transportation, I need not worry about the raising petrol prices, traffic jam doesn't stress me too much anymore, I need not pay to gym and ride a stationary cycle there to burn calories... I am getting these additional benefits along with physical exercise. This is one of the best investments made.

Yes... there is some activity going on that improved the agility of the body but I had to get down to the process of cutting those extra flabs. We need to burn 3500 Calories to cut down 1 pound (0.42 kgs) of fat. So if my target is to cut down 1 pound of fat everyweek (more than which is not recommended by fitness gurus) I should burn 500 calories a day. To know how much calories I spend, my search led to so many useful android apps, that can help you immensely. So my mobile is my fitness partner, so even that investment is also useful :-) I'll give the list of Android apps I use in the later part of this post.

By cycling I burn 350-375 extra calories a day and I cycle only 4-5 days a week when I report to work. That leaves too much of deficit in the calories to be burnt for cutting the fat. So I took additionaly another form of cardio - walking to meet up the remaining calorie requirement. All these efforts - Diet, Cycling and Walking yielded results and I lost 5 kg in 6-7 weeks. From bulky 77+ kg, I came down to 72+ kg in 3rd week of August, considering that I started cycling from July 1st and started walking from first week of August.

I bought a bathroom scale to keep monitoring on the weight and it is really a motivating factor to see your weight coming down and all the efforts are getting paid. Once I saw the weight falling down and within 69~70, I gave up my restrictions and started binging on icecreams, jalebis along with Aadhithya. The weight once again shot back to 72 kgs and I felt bad that my efforts are going in vain. Now the actual challenge started. It is to sustain the weight but at the same time should indulge myself a little whenever possible.

Now walking and cycling remain fixed in my daily routine not only because of sustaining the weight, but also I enjoy them a lot. If cycling makes me feel young (all Bollywood effect), walking gives me the exclusive time for myself. These activities not only exhausts me at night leaving with a sound sleep but also helps in avoiding distractions like internet addiction, excessive masturbation etc.

I recommend walking and cycling to all my friends even if they think they are fit enough. You can skip gyms (if building muscles is not your agenda) if your visits are purely for weight loss only.

Update:
1. Now I weigh 67~68 kgs and my waist measures a little over 32". I intend to lose some more weight to reduce my fat levels and then bulk up with muscles.
2. I don't look tired, feel the fatigue due to so called dieting because I am not starving but eating just necessary / right.
3. I didn't spend anything on food supplements till I lost 6 kgs. I started taking Protein supplements and BCAA (Branched Chain Amino Acids) tablets after I started gymming.
4. I am able to fit into the dresses I like without being uncomfortable. Infact I started spending more on grooming myself.