Being overweight is not a great feeling. It makes you look different from the crowd and affects the most when you are a kid. Most of the times, people tease you and as a result of that you lack confidence, suffer from inferiority complex or might even tend to be a loner.

That’s exactly what happened with Sara in her childhood. She was repeatedly called a “Fat Girl” and teased by everyone. Even her family would make fun of her. Though everyone’s comments hurt her, she had no choice but to accept the insults as her priority was academics and she knew she should concentrate on her studies.

Although she was one of the brightest student in her class, she lacked confidence and was a loner. It was one of her biggest wishes to reduce and abolish her inferiority complex but she kept focusing on her studies. Years passed and her study phase was over. She started working and was doing well. Finally, time had come to focus on other things in life and losing weight was the top most priority for her.

And to the utmost surprise, she lost thirty-two pounds in fourteen months, a few years ago. It was a shock for many. How she did it? Did she achieve this by dieting or exercise; did she fast or was it some kind of a miracle? Let’s see how.

She set a target, started going to the gym regularly and did aerobics every day. Her exercise routine included–One hour of aerobics followed by weight and ab exercises. She also made changes to her diet, such as, adding a protein shake, reducing her intake of rice and potatoes, eating at regular intervals and not eating junk food. The following was her daily regimen:

• 7:00 am – Oats with milk and few almonds
• 10:00 am – One apple
• 12:00 am – One vegetable cooked in one spoon of olive oil, one cup yogurt, two wheat breads (roti), salad
• 4:00 pm – One apple
• 5:30 pm – Gym
• 7:45 pm – Protein shake
• 8:00 pm – One vegetable cooked in one spoon of olive oil, two wheat breads (roti)

But it was not working for her. She was reducing but slowly, one to two pounds a month. With the kind of effort she was putting in everyday, the output was not as expected. She wanted more. Six months passed by, she reached one hundred and forty-five pounds from one hundred and fifty-two pounds.

God’s grace or luck, with a few days her aerobics teacher went on one week of vacation and she had to change her workout routine as she did not like the substitute teacher. She shifted to spinning (a form of cycling) every day and to her surprise she reduced one pound in a week. It was a big achievement for her and she started liking it so much that she never went back to aerobics. After some research and suggestions from friends, she made few more changes to her diet and as a result of both the changes, she started losing one to two pounds every week and within five months, she weighed a one hundred and twenty-eight pounds. She was very happy and people also noticed the change. That was the time she realized, she had done it. She was not very far from her target of a hundred and twenty pounds. The following was her daily regimen after the changes:

• 6:00 am – Protein shake
• 7:00 am – Oats with milk and few almonds
• 10:00 am – One apple
• 12:00 pm – One vegetable cooked in one spoon of olive oil, one cup yogurt, two wheat breads (roti), salad
• 4:00 pm – One apple
• 5:30 pm – Gym
• 8:00 pm – Protein shake and salad or fruits

She kept working out; reduced the time she used to spend on cardio exercise and added few more weight exercises and finally reached the target of a hundred and twenty pounds after a few months.

In her overall journey from a hundred and fifty-two pounds to hundred and twenty pounds, she learned few things which she believes will be helpful for all:

• First and foremost, set a target, where do you want to see yourself and what are your timelines.
• Understand your own body. What might work for others might not work for you. Listen to everyone’s suggestion but include what suits you.
• Reduce on carbohydrates in diet, especially at night. Have minimal or no carbohydrates at night.
• Avoid pressurizing joints in the body as much as possible. Never take risk of hurting your joints; it’s difficult to recover from a joint injury.
• Introduce more protein in your diet while following a workout routine otherwise your body will rob protein from your muscles.
• Eat small portions of food at regular intervals, five to six times a day, so that body does not store fat inside the belly and keeps getting regular nourishment.
• Avoid junk and oily food.  
• Keep track of your body mass index (BMI), but don’t forget the body fat percentage (BFP). BMI provides height and weight ratio, which may not be an accurate categorization of obesity as it includes bone weight. Fat percentage gives more accurate results.
• Work on building muscles and reducing fat. Same weight of muscle looks much leaner than the fat.
• Cardio is important but warm up, weight exercises, stretching are equally important. Most of the time we forget everything else and concentrate only on cardio. A balance of all different exercises is a must.
• Have right posture while exercising.
• Keep changing your routine every few months. The body adapts to a particular routine and does not show expected results after a certain period of time.
• Burn more and eat less, otherwise you might end up maintaining your current weight and not reduce as you want it to be.
• Stay hydrated, drink a lot of water.
• Follow a discipline.
• Include exercise in your daily routine for a healthy living, and not just for weight loss. Change your life style. The earlier in life you start the better. Our body becomes stiff as we grow old and flexibility and stamina diminish. Healthy living is a lifelong procedure.

Above plan worked for her and might work for you as well. The points mentioned are the basics and can be beneficial for everyone. If you have the passion you can earn the results. As she thought she could and she did , so can you.

Happy reading!!

  Dated: Oct 17, 2015