Spurthi's 40lbs (approx 20Kgs) weight loss story..

[spurthi]

As I was asking member Shilpa to start bloging her weight loss journey, I thought of bringing here my own story. The story with ups and downs / good and bad moods.

I will be publishing the parts as and when I get a chance. Please do leave behind a comment if you like/dislike anything about it.

[spurthi]

Intended Audience-

· This is for those lovely ladies and wonderful moms with whom the sweet little babies left behind lot of visible memories.
· Those who want to change the way they look, and relive the way they want to.
· Those who are bored of boredom and want something change which has multiple benefits.
· Those men who want to show this to their wife at their own risk.


Well, friends here I am back after a gap with one of my long pending blogs - Me and my “X” X-tra pounds. J

Where do I start? This blog is about my experiences with the variations in those pounds around me.

This is a well known fact. Around the age of sweet 16/17/18 girls usually look their best with close to great figure. Let us call just like vehicle Scooty Pep or Mercedes Benz- very hot / sexy / elegant.

Few years to it around marriageable age they turn in to Maruti Zen! Still cool!

Aha, here comes the stark. Transition from Maruti Zen to an Air Conditioned Bus! Not so cool!

Comes there next bundle of joy! Whoa...now it is double Decker bus. Not one over other but one beside other. J

Now...now ladies please do not pounce on me. I am into no ridiculing. That's not a game of my liking. There are still quite a few of the lucky ones or rather extremely enviable ones who just transition back and forth so smoothly that they remain like Scooty Pep/Mercedes Benz even with 1, 2 or 3 bundles of joy.

Now here is your chance, to make a 'U' turn and skip depending upon where you would put yourself. If you are a Scooty or Mercedes or Maruti Zen, then my blog has very little to offer to you! Nice having you till here! J

Well, to the remaining folks we can share our tragedies here. I am with you.

I would have put myself in the last bucket though it would have been a little exaggerated case.

Back to self, for major part of my life I have been an outdoor person, to be precise a sports person. Walking / Running / Jumping were just a fun event. Even just few hours before heading the labor room I have covered distance of more than a mile on foot on walking tracks.

But when I had my first baby, it took such a toll on me that even simple activities like briskly sitting/standing turned into an effort task. I did not want to leave my child and go for exercise. A working mom that I was it would fill me with guilt even the thought of having to leave my child for any more minutes later. Then, some shared if you are going to do work out then you might not be able to nurse for long. Outcome was - all offers spouse made of taking care of child in case I wanted to go to gym were declined. He in turn continued his regular work out regime.

The result being while I am holding my sweet baby, a hubby's friend looks casually at our wedding photo in hall, and asks was that 5-10 years back? Gosh...being stabbed by knife would have made me feel lot better. We were just in baby steps into marriage, and such was the compliment. Actually, it could have been pushed aside as a case of bad estimation skill on this friend's part, but I swear I did not get good sleep that night.

It did not end here. Come any party, this was my favorite question to my husband. Do I look fat in this dress? Ah....had I asked do I look good, probably both would have been happy. My hubby would never answer that question, but one look at his annoyed face was enough to regret why the heck I ask each time when I know I am!

And first visit to India with the baby, wow...how generous our people are in saying something that we already know, and not so keen on hearing.

Now those of you who are thinking, why she did not change or do work out? Here is my answer - I did! Around when my kid turned around 18 months, thanks to my visiting folks who encouraged me and supported me to start the swimming activity. I had lost around 15 pounds of weight. But since I knew the balloon had to blow again, the desire to lose excess weight was good but not very strong. So I was fluctuating between Mini Van and Bus occasionally.

When my 2nd one was born, I had decided I will not let the story repeat. I was conscious but I don't know what with nursing moms. The number of calories needed is just 500 extra but appetite is lot more. So slowly I started heading towards Double Decker bus, not one over other but one beside other! L Hey...but such buses can also look very good and cute. I tell you!
But I was not happy! I had loved playing with kids. When I say playing not sitting and playing just scrabble / ladders and chutes / doll-doll home-home. But running around and playing and challenging kids on the ground. With older one growing I wished to play those hopping games with stones, and many others.

I knew I had to start, and start hard and continue consistently. Another few months I knew my Chota Bheem would be a year old.

My first resolution -
1. Change Double Decker Bus to Just AC Bus. Yes, you got it. Come to pre-2nd baby weight before the first birthday of Chota Bheem. Had 4 months on hand and 18 lbs to lose.

Challenges:
1. Snowy winter ahead with -10F / -20F temperatures when the most appealing thing to do is - just sitting cozy and eating pakoras!
2. Both kids still little - one 4 year and other 8 months.
3. Working status quo had continued.

Advantages:
1. Supportive spouse who makes a wonderful parent too. Note to self was - Dads are capable of taking care of kids. It is just that moms need to trust that, and give them that extra responsibility.
2. Kids had sibling for each other, and not in fighting age yet. They would entertain each other, with an adult having an eye on them.
3. Visiting folks. Can't be any luckier!
------------
I was close to 35 lbs off shoot from my healthy BMI weight range.

As I write this I am close to 27 lbs down!

How did I attack the problem?!
Dieting?
Shelled down hefty price?!
Timings!
Exercises!
And lot more to follow soon in my next...!

Stay tuned...

[spurthi]

35 lbs to lose - it appeared nothing less than a big mountain to surmount.

I set a time range of 1 year to lose 35 lbs, and shifted the focus from 35 to 5 lbs to lose. Now it seemed smaller and a target that could be achieved.

I was on the high carb side. I think when a person is fat little fat or more fat does not matter. So people usually are not watchful on the intake. I identified this pattern and first step for self was to come out of it. For the first 1 week I slowly started reducing the carbs (mainly rice).

Motivation

The greatest thing that I needed at the moment was motivation. There were 25 reasons I could state for not being able to go. I just needed one strong reason that could pull me.

The first visit to gym gave me shock. Hubby had cancelled my membership few weeks back as I had not gone even after him mentioning several times. All the while I was thinking it was joke. Also I had to promise him I will be regular. It just added the necessary pinch of salt. Now I had to prove my metal. The power of attorney I had given him to push me to work out with either gentle / regular / harsh words suddenly seemed scary. I knew he is good at doing his job well.

I started off in a very modest way. For the first 2 visits I did just 20 minutes of walking. I next changed to jog at 4 mph increasing slowly to 4.5 mph to 5mph. It was already 3 weeks. The pace at which weight loss was happening was quite slow.
The whole work out seemed to be adding extra stress of me being watchful all the time as to how many calories I burnt. No Fun!

I wanted to break this. For me it is very important I enjoy what I do! I do my best then. Found Body Jam classes which provided the punch pass facility. It was a musical dance with high energy work out pattern. There were times when I was hesitant thinking people would laugh seeing me do such funky thing. Had never done before but it was nice and tempting. I decided to take a plunge into it, and my hubby dear was with me in this. He had not ridiculed my choice, and at that time I was too round for that kind of activity to look graceful! Body Jam was refreshing. I attended 10 sessions of 1 hour each for twice a week. On the weekends I would do the regular jogging. It seemed to go well.

Also, I had got my routine health check up done. The report came out as normal, but when I took a look at numbers I had felt I can make them look better.

Diet

On the Diet side, I never starved any time. I was easy and gentle with self. I substituted major rice intake with 2 rotis, lots of vegetables and Salad. I ate tummy full. Any time I would feel like eating sweet immediately after work out would settle for a date or a piece of jaggery. I made sure I never was very hungry. I would eat a fruit or nuts. I tried to make my food more interesting and delicious.
I had made it a point not to let self pity come anywhere close to me for what I was doing. It was with my full will and choice. I would still have little ice cream and few chips once a while. I did not want my routine to change to what I might not be able to continue.

The dance routine was good and also a fun one. It was able to pull me out of the house be it snowing or fiercely windy. The purpose for what I had started was met. I had changed from need motivation to self motivated.

I started observing that I was able to keep moving for 1 hour continuously. Being able to dance non-stop for 1 hour ain't any joke. But I needed something more targeting the more problem areas.

So my hunt continued...


Weight loss in 10 weeks: 12 lbs
Amount spent: $18 extra apart from the regular membership fees
Diet: Substituted Rice intake with Rotis + plenty of vegetables + Salad

[celebi]

Spurthi, your efforts are really inspiring. Good Job.

[whitecloud]

Very nice spurthi! One of the biggest reasons why this forum will attract a lot of members can be attributed to your fitness programs and your own experiences.

[ShankarDada]

Spurthi,

Truly inspirational. I am sure many members will be benefitted by reading your story.

[spurthi]

Apr 15, 2011 8:41:33 GMT -5 whitecloud said:

Very nice spurthi! One of the biggest reasons why this forum will attract a lot of members can be attributed to your fitness programs and your own experiences.

Thanks Whitecloud! I am not sure how much it would attract members. Currently am afraid how much it would annoy people with the kind of pulling I am doing amongst friends! If there is any reduction in the number of invitations for get toegthers / parties then I will know what has caused it?!! heh joking... ! Yes, hope many people and bring a change in their life style!

[spurthi]

celebi and shankardada, thanks for the comments.