That’s the statement that woke me from my dreams today. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that I dream quite a lot about weird and nightmarish things – some are either gory or too sexy to share in this blog. (Maybe I’ll tell you if you don’t know me in person.)
Back to the sentence I dreamt of. We were taught to number our days so we can make the most of our lives. But we were never raised to count the calories in every morsel we eat. “Calorie counting is BS (bull *hit),” my best friend nicely commented. Though I told him many times that it actually worked for a lot of dieters.
So my subconscious perhaps agreed with my best friend’s statement?
The Fat History
My friends back in high school used to tease me for my chubbiness. These tormentors were so creative at coming up with super funny insults – even I couldn’t help but laugh with them. Truth is, I didn’t really care because I was still cute. (Either that’s hubris or lack of self-awareness.)
I also thought that I was smart enough to ignore abusive remarks. I thought of their name-calling as endearments. (That’s what friends do, right? Trash talk.) After all, they still sought my company. If they hated my size and shape that much, they should not have asked me to hang out with them.
Eating and Losing Weight
When I turned 25, I grabbed the chance to fly to Dubai. I told you that it was my first airplane ride. I was torn between feeling sad that I was leaving my family and best friend and feeling excited believing I was going to make a lot of money. There I learned the importance of being earnest about one’s goal – whatever it is.
I ate only cereals on weekdays during my test diets. Then oats later on, because I came to know that cereals are high in sugar and milk makes you fat. But as soon as I got along well with my workmates, I began eating lunch with them – apparently eating ‘regular’ food for lunch on workdays. Regular is not the right word because they always made awesome dishes – I frequently forgot my diet plans.
I enrolled at Fitness First for a year, not because I was impressed with the results or reviews. My friend Whena gave me a guest pass one day and we bonded in their sauna and steam bath areas. That was the catch: if you are enervated after exercise, you get to pamper yourself in the most rejuvenating way. I even paid a personal trainer to help me work on my flaws. Crazy, I know.
I did not lose weight by going to the gym. Whenever I worked out, I felt I had the right to binge. This is not only irrational but also goal-shattering. So I just kept going to the gym every now and then – not regularly and thought of other ways to keep a healthy weight.
Walking 10,000 steps a day and Eating Moderately
I’m classified as a mesomorph- I only have to exert a little effort to get the ‘Vina Morales’ physique, which is something I am scared of (that’s why I don’t want to run). So I thought I should try light activities which I could do routinely. Walking 10,000 steps a day must be the answer.
I don’t eat rice more than once a day. I’m not against farmers but I think you should give other carbohydrate sources a chance. I also noticed that rice-lovers tend to develop flabby tummies.
I no longer count calories – though that would have been a perfect daily Math exercise. I think food is an energy source. You don’t get a full tank when you’re not going on a long journey. Excess is a waste. Unused energy from food becomes stored fat that dangles uselessly.
I hate giving advice on how to lose weight because I’m guessing it will be my lifetime challenge. A lifestyle that recognises this fact is one that will adapt to it.
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