Shedding those extra kilos is never easy. It is not just the hundreds of thousands of rupees that are spent on gyms or slimming centres, it is the entire approach to weight loss — the strict regimen one has to follow and the foods one can’t eat. SHAlINI SAKSENA, who lost 20 kg with her own rules and regulations, tells you her story on how to lose it without losing your mind
The adage that slow and steady wins the race applies to me when it comes to weight loss. There are thousands of people out there who have spent years and thousands of rupees to achieve that perfect figure. Visits to the slimming centre and the gym and going on a diet of health supplements, all have been tried and tested. The good part is that as long as one is on a regimen, the weighing scale shows the dip. Get off the plan and the needle moves in a direction you do not want it to.
But that doesn’t stop people from choosing one of the popular plans out in the market. There are diet plans galore, like the Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet, Dukan Diet and the like that help to lose weight rather quickly. And while this acts a motivator, the truth is that one can’t be constantly on these diets. So the big question facing me, when I wanted to shed many kilos was what should I doIJ
For a person like me, who has been on some kind of a diet plan on and off for the past 20 years, the first thing that had to be kept in mind was that a weight loss programme couldn’t be a hurried one. It would take patience, I told myself. Sadly, while in my 20s, that was a virtue not in my genes. The first time the idea to lose weight occured to me, I was 20 and raring to lose 10 kg in just two months!
Family and friends said yoga would help shed weight the fastest. So, taking classes and then doing them twice a day became routine. Nothing much happened. My instructor came up with a more intense programme — a cleansing diet plan. I had to drink four glasses of warm water with salt, do some exercises and head to the loo. This had to be done till only water came out. If this wasn’t enough torture in the middle of a heat wave, the instructions to lie down without the fan for 45 minutes followed. All was endured for that magic goal!
Of course, there was a diet plan too. Day one — the only meal of the day — kichhdi with plenty of ghee (to line the intestines which had become raw due to the cleansing). For the next two weeks, I was told only to eat two rotis with chhilka daal for lunch and dinner. But that didn’t mean that the exercises stopped. They continued, with more vigour.
Then, the results had to be declared. The verdict — abject failure. In the two weeks of sheer torture, I had only lost two kg! Though the instructor said that the going was good, there was no way that the next six weeks would be spent eating two rotis and daal. Burgers, ice creams and pizza beckoned and I succumbed.
Years passed. By then, the Atkins Diet was making waves in Delhi. People were swearing by it. Accounts of how some had lost up to seven kg in a week became motivational. I started my own research on what I could eat. The obvious happened — the thought of eating just bananas or fruit or just chicken the entire day put me off. Failure again, and this time the plan had not even been followed for a day!
looking back on why my attempts to lose weight failed, only one thing comes to mind — while the plans may have worked brilliantly for others, my love for everything that is junk stood in my way. It goes without saying that the years that followed my yoga-cum-diet plan splashes worked in the reverse for me. My body starved for sweets and burgers and that meant I had put on more weight. Midnight snacks of chips and chocolates became a regular feature. Even the thought of a diet gave me nightmares.
Then came the era of slimming centres. Ads in newspapers forced me to make a trip to one of the centres. The lady told me that I had come to the right place. In no time (one year), I would lose 25 kg, I was told convincingly!
Money changed hands. The going was great. I was losing 500 gm a week. The scales started to dip again. I was over the moon. But the downer was always there — no aloo, no rice and definitely no sweets. I gave up all. Friends said I looked great, that it was unbelievable I had lost so much weight.
The target I had set was achieved. Months of bliss followed. Clothes became loose, a new wardrobe was needed. A year passed. And then, one day I stepped on the scales. How I had put on so much weightIJ Not only had I gain all I had lost, I was up 5kg over that. I gave up on the entire concept of losing weight that very moment.
Another seven years passed. As a journalist, my work takes me to various places. This time it was a story on bariatric surgery that had me thinking again. Accounts of how people, after having their stomach stitched up, had lost more than a 100 kg, once again tempted me. Unfortunately, the money needed for the surgery was not within my reach. Failure again. But the idea that I had to lose weight, that too my way took root here.
Though I cannot say that this diet plan will work for all because each person has a body type and mental make-up, the truth is that it has been seven months and I am down 20 kg and the countdown continues. What did I doIJ It was simple, I gave up eating carbohydrates after 6:30 pm. No walking, no going to the gym, definitely no exercising or giving up on my favourite foods.
So, what do I eatIJ My day starts late, at around 11 am. Two stuffed paranthas with sabzi or achaar, a cup of coffee and on most days a glass full of fresh orange juice is how it begins. Once in office, a cup of tea (with two cubes of sugar) with a fruit platter around 4 pm follows. This is not all that I eat. Sometimes there are samosas, momos and even chholey kulchas with side orders of burgers, a slice of pizza and French fires thrown in occasionally. One can’t forget the office parties or coffee breaks. Pastries, sandwiches and cold coffee with ice cream also come my way, but not overwhelmingly so, never after 6.30 pm.
Then there is dinner. It here that I need to put the breaks. No roti, no rice and no aloo. But everything else goes on my plate — daal, plenty of veggies, soup, achaar, salad, dahi and sometimes paneer. On other days, it is egg curry or chicken.
The reason why I have been able to follow this regimen is that it takes care of all my cravings, including that for pasta. If I want to eat a chocolate I eat it, if I want to eat halwa, I eat that too. But once the clock strikes 6:30 pm — no carbs.
Of course, there will be sceptics out there. How can one lose so much weight without exercise or a crash course. I would like to reiterate that the only reason why it has worked for me is because the plan helps me eat everything. With my cravings for junk food taken care of, at night, I can summon enough will power to put all stops.