Of Weighty Issues ...

Weight had never been an issue or concern for the first 24 years of my life. Almost never. Until then, the lack of it surely was one!

This is my third time on being a “weight loss regimen” so far. Purely self-driven and something which has nothing to do with any crash diets or expert advice whatsoever.  

Mind you , am not a complete “ overweight case” yet  so please don’t imagine me as a 200 pounds lady with a bowl popcorn in one hand and coke in another.  Sorry folks ! Right now ,  I weigh about 115 pounds and need to lose about 5 pounds to look good and fit for my height of about 5 feet and 2 n a half inches. (Yes , I do add that half inch – it matters to me :) )

The first time I ever put on the weight was when I got my first job after looking for one for the longest time you can ever imagine of. So with the relaxed state of mind , the body probably indulged in to :) . To add to it , we had a “Sweets Corner” right besides our Office  Building. Well , by the time the panic button was “ON”  , I had already put on a sizable amount of weight. But losing weight then was easy you see. With age being one factor , the metabolism rate was still good. And yes , Maa ke haath ka fresh khaana being the other one. So just cutting on those extra sweets and samosas was good enough. All I did was went to 3 trekking trips with my friends  (Lohagad , Sinhagad and Matheran – for all the curious minds) within a span of about 3 months which actually did the trick.  I lost all the gained weight happily. Happily because , weight loss was never “always” on my mind and  with trips being so much fun accompanied by a bunch of good friends , weight loss came naturally as a  byproduct.

So , I was a happy and healthy 100 pounds when I first landed to the US of A in 2008. During his trip to Chi town, M bought me a big bag full of chocolates and that’s how I got addicted to them leading to my second story. Munching them during classes, in lab, while studying in library – dint realize when winter and the first semester was already over. My friends used to envy my genes and I would smile back proudly completely forgetting my previous encounter with weight gain.  With the super busy schedule, I actually did not realize when I had put on a nice layer of fat under those big sweaters and snow jackets. Sigh!!

So the panic button was “ON” yet again. All the chocolates in the Kitchen shelf were replaced by different flavors of Green Tea. And the entire “vetty” summer (Tamil term – for “khaali junta” as in “jobless people”) was spent in rigorous workouts. Yes, everything. From yoga to jogging to Biking. Bad part was the body was not responding to all of that as quickly as the first time. But the good part was I had a good, dedicated and always motivated team of girls (my roomies) who were also working hard to lose weight. I remember jogging / walking for 5 miles a day at one point. We were crazy then. But amidst all the “No luck” , “Nopes”, “not yet” reactions after spending hours of time in front of mirror …one fine day , I miraculously got into my “benchmark” jeans and Eureka – I had done that. Everybody around me suddenly seemed to realize it and in came the compliments and questions seeking advice.

Two years later – which is NOW :

After all those efforts, who on earth would be careless and lazy enough to put on all of that lost weight plus some more as a bonus? Yes I agree. But unfortunately, I could. And I did put on all of that weight. With wedding, job search  and status issue worries  weight kind of became a non-issue. Somehow.

So, here I am, yet again with the panic button “ON” promising myself that if this time I lose that weight, I will never again let it grow on me – literally.

But this time – the challenge is bigger. With metabolism rate much slower, nobody to accompany for jogs on daily basis, I need a lot higher motivation levels.

So where am I? This is the fifth week of my exercise and monitoring my food intake, I do feel fitter and fresher than what I was before 5 weeks. Am not yet sure whether I have lost any weight or not. But let’s see. Nopes –that benchmark jeans is still a zillion fat layers away. :)

What’s my routine? – Well 3 miles of jogging about 3 to 4 times a week along with 2 days of yoga !!! As I had promised here , this post is an update. And now I need your comments for the motivation :)

And here are the pics of my Jogging Track for you :)