About the FAT ‘ME‘
I was never fit from the day I know myself.
Food was more of an emotion and being deprived of good food is what I define as depression.
Body shaming was part and parcel of my life. I had faced many humiliations to break me down and shatter me into pieces. But later I learnt to ignore it with time. I was afraid of pursuing everything literally everything, because my physical appearance was playing havoc with my self confidence.
I wanted to be a fashion designer, build a brand for myself and even do research in the field of medicinal clothing. I could not give wings to my dreams as what haunted me the most was the fear to face people because of my abnormal appearance. A good personality was very important for that field is what people told me, when I discussed with them about my dreams.
Mostly many people, who are now successful business owners or an expert in other fields were definitely once an Engineer. I followed the baton and I too became an Engineer..
That hurray moment!!!
And I am the first Engineer in my father’s family. People around me were happy with my progress. But something was killing me from inside.
I was neither physically looking good nor mentally happy, because what I was doing, was not what I wanted in life. So I decided to address these problems desperately.
I tried all the fad diets on Earth, and had a very very bad experience with slimming centers. I realized there no shortcuts to weight loss. I could not give up on good food so finally I gave up on my attempts to get fit.
But over a period of time, I learnt even to accept this “FAT ME”
As I was settled in my career,my parents decided to get me married. I was frightened to the core due to the fear of rejection. Now I am going face harsh comments from people who are going to make not only me, but the whole family ashamed.
Why am I telling you all this? I want you to understand how obesity leads to a low self esteem over a period of time. So please don’t stop reading.
But Thank God, my life changed. I met the love of my life. This man loved me, beyond my physical appearance. He loved me and still loves me for the person I am and never failed to admire my talents. For the first time in my life, I started feeling good about myself. He too was obese, so we were on the same page in life. Wedding happened. I was living a very happy life and I gave birth to a daughter.
During my pregnancy, when people asked me if I wanted a boy or girl, I tell them I want a healthy baby who is not obese by birth. Such are my scars that are eternal etched in my heart.By this time, you would have got the fear that haunted me the most. God was kind enough to grant my wishes. I gave birth to a daughter who was not obese by birth. That was the most blessed day of my life.
THE FALL
But the next problem was my postpartum weight gain. We both moved from overweight to extremely obese category as the newborn demanded our complete attention and we were unable to do anything about our health. We were at 140 kgs together. Yes 140, that’s really an alarming number. Over a period of time we fell prey to all health ailments. This led to depression and a very low self esteem.Wherever we go, people showered us with advises. We thought we could reduce our weight easily. But what was lacking in our life now, was the time to do something for our own selves with the growing commitments.
THE DISCOVERY
Unable to find a way out, I decided to do Anusham pooja as I believed, only God could help us at this point in time. I did the pooja for 48 days isolating myself from everything. I watched and read only about MahaPeriyava. That was where I noticed, something was common in every video or book I read.
” If you want to find success in life, first find the best mentor who could guide you. Once you have found them, trust them beyond doubts and dedicate yourself to the process without focusing on results. If you follow this, success will embrace you.
On the 49 th day post pooja, we saw a YouTube video of
BIGLEE MURALI(Mr. TamilNadu) about how to address postpartum weight gain issues in women. We loved his explanation, as he was digging deep through the roots of the problem to find a solution. We instantly decided, he would be our mentor. We trusted him and believed he is God sent savior to us. We contacted him through Instagram and met him in person and explained our problems. That was a very jovial conversation. He is such a humble and down to Earth person I have ever met. Then we started our journey with him in WhatsApp and we named our group MISSION SLIMPOSSIBLE. I truly love that name, as merely seeing the name of the group gave me a lot of motivation as it had, SLIM, IMPOSSIBLE and POSSIBLE.
THE RAISE
We knew the plan he gives us, is going to require a lot of dedication, will power and a very good support system to adapt it as our lifestyle. So as a couple, we decided on three things.
1.Plan ahead
Why do I inisist on planning?
If you are not planned for something, surely the stress would steal the joy of doing it. Over a period of time we would give up, to save us from the hassle.
Our diet plan changes weekly. So to avoid the practical difficulties on weekdays,we would stock all the essentials required for our diet during the weekend. If our diet plan changes on weekdays, we would rely on BigBasket. This saved us from most of hassle during weekdays.
Luckily we both knew cooking. So, we started trying interesting recipes without oil to make our diet more interesting. You know what, when you do something as a couple you enjoy it the most. You experience a sense of feeling that you are not left alone and you can support each other in this venture.
2.Build a support system
We were free to ask for help, when required. You might think I am naive to include this point. But why am I telling you this? If you do not build a support system, you are most likely to fail. The initial josh of doing something new, might pull you for a period of time,but later you are going to face the heat. When we felt tired, frustrated we reached out to our parents for help. We might be ashamed to ask for help, that’s what our culture taught us. But when you ask, you will be surprised to find it makes your life easy. In a family or community when you help each other you experience a beautiful bonding. Our parents and our family is always our pillar of strength.
3.Never Ever Give Up
We gathered all the broken pieces of ourselves together to build a new anti fragile personality. Every pain was not only building muscle, but sculpting a new strong, better version of ourselves.
Many were skeptical with the idea of seeking help from a fitness coach. But we felt, it is an investment for life.
Secondly,we were seeking the help of a legend. His time is something that is invaluable. So,we never wanted to disappoint him at any cost. This thought was pushing us from inside when we were about to give up.
We saw each day as a new opportunity to improve ourselves and make the most of it. We not only wished for a healthy body, but glad we were working for it.
THE FITNESS JOURNEY
Our coach made very gradual changes in our diet and gym regime. It was simple and easy to follow. We were eating more than before, but to our delight we were shedding the extra pounds.
Whenever we felt like quitting we reminded each other about why we started. During this process we understood, Previously,how badly we were abusing our body by eating junk and without exercising. A little progress everyday was adding up to the big results.
Over a course of time, we started loving our new lifestyle.
I still wonder how can someone guess what will work best for our body, when we, who have been living with this body for a long time don’t know. That speaks of his profound experience in this field.He also taught us many tips and tricks to manage our weight, post family functions. When he says, we will loose this extra pounds after the function in three days, our body will definitely see that change. HE IS TRULY A GENIUS. I fall short of words to praise him. We were regular in our diet and gym schedule and the hardest part was we were missing it, if we could not follow it on particular days due to unavoidable circumstances.
The hardest thing is to start doing it. Once you are doing regularly, it is the hardest thing to stop.
Now people started noticing that we have reduced weight significantly.
They started calling us an inspiration. This motivated us a lot. We are humbled and delighted to hear that over and over again.
Once you see results, it definitely becomes an addiction.
WE LOST 40 KGS IN 8 MONTHS..
It was unbelievable for us.We built solid good eating habits and exercising daily without fail. Our body became a reflection of our lifestyle. We understood our body is our true life partner and enjoyed the process of taking care of ourselves.
Though we have made a significant progress, our heart was yearning for that moment to see 99 kgs in our weighing scale.
The double digit dream was the toughest. We were hanging in there for a long time.
Our coach helped us a lot, and one day it happened. Tears of joy rolled..I could never describe how happy we were. The hardwork, the dedication gradually touched the sea of success.
That is the best moment of my life.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Acceptance
First in the beginning we learnt to accept that we were not respecting our body. This acceptance was the first step which led us to find a solution.
This body was the one, which helped me bring my child(love of my life) to this world. This body was the one that has suffered and silently tolerated the most abuse, when I overeat or do not give it proper sleep. It has been working for me, tirelessly right from my birth. What it requires was some additional care, a good diet and proper exercise. This was the major realization that paved the way to our fitness journey. The biggest hurdle in our life, is to start something new. Once we start we’re definitely going to follow it forever.
Enjoy the process
Many evaluate their progress with results. But when you are looking to build a new lifestyle, you cannot keep looking for results. If you do so, you are going to give up half way through. The interesting thing about our life is, it is unpredictable. Anything might deter you tomorrow. But the key is to even embrace the imperfections. Let us understand, it is ok to be not ok. Once we adhere to this mindset, we will start loving the kind of person we are. We can build a STRONG, SUPER CONFIDENT YOU.
The results will just be a part of it. I learnt it the hard way. But I feel proud that I started.
Celebrate
Celebrate even your smallest wins. I have learnt this from my experience. Because when you are stressed your body fails to cooperate with you and if this happens continuously,then you are most likely to give up in the middle.
Even if you have lost only 500gms this week, pat on your back to have taken the first step. Give your body the confidence that you are with it. If that happens, your body will repay for your effort. There is a significant connect between mind and body. If your mind is not convinced your body is not going to do the job. So keep yourself happy.
Stay away from negativity and build a community of like minded people,who can truly motivate you. This will improve your mental strength. Physical fitness has a lot to do with mental fitness.
Conclusion
I am not an expert yet. I am learning everyday and grooming myself with the lessons learnt from my own scars and downfalls. I had failed miserably many times but I never gave up. It was my determination which has created a stronger version of myself. Let others views never make an impact on you.
Love yourself, you will see your life blossoming beautifully.
If you liked my post, I would be very happy to hear from you. So let me know in the comments.Stay happy and stay blessed.
Loads of love❤️
Ishu
MommyReturns 