B16: The day when I lost 15 kgs in 4 months.

 

“One pound at a time”

Source: The Conversation

The day when I lost 15 kgs in 4 months.

                Let me begin from the beginning....... My name is Humaira Kazi, I was born on 12^th July 2001. I am my parent’s second child and second daughter, by God’s grace I was born healthy. As a young baby, I was all chubby and healthy, no one would leave any chance to pull my cheeks. I even participated in many ‘healthy–baby’ competitions as well. But after a few years when I turned around 5, I started attracting a lot of diseases and health issues which made me lose a lot of weight and my skin became dull. I was skinny for a while but then adolescence hit me, and it hit me strong, as soon as I turned 12 my body started showing a lot of physical changes, constant weight gain was one of them, and I wouldn’t blame my hormones (PCOD) alone, my laziness and tantrums about eating healthy food were in large number.

Source: Pinterest 

From my 6^th standard to my 13^th standard I have lived as a “Fat” or “obese” body girl. The lockdown period showed its effects on my body weight very well, if I am not wrong I gained approximately 3 to 5 kgs in this lockdown period by having no proper routine, no proper diet, eating anything at any time, and no physical activity except for the mopping work. On my 19^th birthday, when I had to forcefully fit myself in my favourite jumpsuit and after seeing all those tooooooo chubby pictures, I felt that I must work on myself, I must not be lazy and keep on gaining weight because obesity brings in a lot of problems along with itself.

But I am a stubborn and lazy person, I knew what I was supposed to do but I wasn’t really doing it, maybe because I didn’t have the real motivation to start. July passed and came in August, on 16^th August 2020, we ordered chicken biryani from a five-star hotel, and my whole joint family of 13 members enjoyed that lunch as if we were celebrating something big. After having lunch, the very favorite topic in my family “my weight” began. Everyone kept their points in front of me which I really felt were politically incorrect and offensive, the same old dramatic line anyone gets to hear were the ones I heard, they all had their perspective and points, which I simply kept listening to.

My Uncle, Mr. Arif Kazi (had to mention his name because he is been asking for credits and he deserves it because he was the one who actually gave me the push and motivation I needed) sat beside me and kept his point of view again I didn’t like his reasons but in the end, I knew that we are all on the same track, our goal is same for me to lose weight, reasons might be different but who cares, in the end, it is all for me. Before agreeing to wake up early in the morning and go on a walk with him, I kept a condition in front of my Uncle, “If I get successful in losing weight, you will send me on Europe Tour”, well he did agree but now he can’t really execute it (Stay home, Stay Safe).

On 17^th August 2020 my journey of losing weight began, “Hindi wala Saffar nhi, English vala Suffer”. Still, then I wasn’t serious about it, I used to go for a walk for 1 hour with my uncle and elder sister in the parking lot because it used to rain. We would talk about a lot of good stuff, usually, my uncle used to speak; I am not an early morning active-talk-to person. He would talk about life, the corporate world, and lessons he learned which we should know.

Source: Pinterest

From mid-August to mid-September, I did not follow any diet, consumed all carbs and fats, and ate rice, bread, fried items, and snacks. So one month I couldn’t see any results. One day, I saw one of my friends posting about losing 2kgs in one week, which caught my attention. I texted her to know the routine, her routine wasn’t hard to follow but also wasn’t easy for me, because I had to say NO TO RICE. I have always been a rice person, and eating rotis / chapattis have always been a task. I had to say no to sweets and sugar, my morning Tea with Milk and biscuits. I had to say No to a lot of things.

How to lose 15 kgs in 4 months with a simple diet and exercise routine?

My diet to lose 15 kgs in 4 months :

Since I started losing weight, many people approached me to know my diet, so here it is;

1)   Start your morning with a glass of hot water. I used to add Sauff (fennel seeds) to my hot water and then later replaced it with lemon. Both are fine to continue with.

2)   In breakfast, I used to drink lemon and ginger tea but I stopped after some time only because I did not like its taste. I would eat masala oats, salad with boiled chicken or scrambled eggs or at times only salad, for flavour you can add curd and maybe a small portion of sauces and chilli flakes and oregano. It would depend completely on my hunger; at times I wouldn’t eat anything or have a bowl of watermelon.

3)   For lunch, again depending upon my hunger, I would eat 1 or 2 chapattis with any gravy or sabzi made at home, avoiding meat and potatoes, with some vegetable salad. Rice was a complete NO.

4)   In the evening, I would have nothing; usually, I would feel full after my lunch. But if I felt hungry and want to eat something, then bhel/apple/popcorn.

5)   For dinner, either I would skip it altogether because my appetite started to decrease, or if I felt like eating I would have vegetable salad or fruits, and if hungry then 1 chapatti with any sabzi or gravy.

6)   I would consume a glass of milk frequently before sleeping.

Source: Harvard University 

7)   One of the most important things in a diet is to consume water. I used to drink a minimum of 4 glasses of hot water and 5 glasses of water at room temperature. Different body sizes and weights require different quantities of water consumption. Drinking water makes you feel full and reduces the urge to eat, which is very helpful when you are trying to lose weight.

8)   Tracking your calorie consumption and water consumption is very useful. I used an app called, “HealthifyMe”. It wasn’t appropriate at times but I like its features.

9)   I did a calorie-deficit diet to lose 15 kgs in 4 months, ie. my body required 1400 calorie consumption per day but I used to consume not more than 700 calories per day. A calorie-deficit diet is very critical and should be very carefully monitored and planned.

10) Living in a joint family, we had many birthday cakes and wedding anniversary cakes coming home, I used to have a small slice of it. Yes, I said no to many things but I wasn’t harsh on myself.

Following my diet was easy because of the support from my family, especially the support from my sister and mother. I am not good at cooking so they used to prepare all my diet-related meals. 

My workout schedule to lose 15 kgs in 4 months:

1. 

   Source: Miratel Solutions

   Cycling 6 to 7 km in 30 minutes.  
2. Walking and running simultaneously for a distance of 3 km in 30 minutes.
3. Mopping work also burns calories; I used to do mopping every day for 30-40 minutes. Similarly, other household work like washing dishes also counts.
4. I also started doing some exercises for 40-50 minutes which included skipping without a rope, plank, cobra pose, jumping jacks, squats, mountain climbers, weight lifting, and many many more, I don’t know what they are called but they are some simple exercises which you can find on the internet easily.
5.   Dancing, I would at times do dancing for 30-40 minutes, any normal freestyle or Bollywood dancing works.

One thing that is very important is that I never carried my mobile phone, I used to keep it at home and go for my walk, jogging, and cycling on the streets for proper 60 minutes. The fresh air and morning calmness is what you need while working out. During this period, I used to get many ideas related to my blog topics, my book, and college-related work or internship ideas.  

Motivation to lose 15 kgs in 4 months:

Source: wikiHow

Once you start following your routine religiously and consistently, you will start seeing results and that motivates you to keep struggling and hustling. When I used to do my workout, it used to be difficult physically because I wasn’t active much, body pain or tiredness, I used to feel exhausted or at times felt to give up, but never give up, I never did. While running, walking, or cycling, keep looking at your goal, road, or ending point where you have to reach and keep saying, “I am almost there. We are almost there. Just a few more steps, few more peddling”. And of course; my clothes loosening, people complimenting me, the visible changes in my body shape and the active fit body kept me motivated. 

Source: Unknown

This was my journey from 75 kgs to 60 kgs in 4 months ie. from mid-September 2020 to mid-January 2021. It took me 4 months to lose 15 kgs because in the beginning, it was easy, the weight loss was fast and smooth, and the curves in the graphs were sloping down but after reaching from 75 kgs to 65 kgs within 2.5 months, things became difficult, it is said that in the beginning the extra and loose fats burns easily, it becomes difficult in the later period. There was a time when my body stopped reacting, I was neither losing weight nor gaining even after following the same routine. I Googled about it and learned about the ‘Weight Plateau’. In this period your weight graph is consistent even after following your strict routine. I concerned a nutritionist on the HealthifyMe app about the same, and she told me that our body gets used to the routine we are following continuously. So, in the beginning, I was losing weight but now my body has adapted low-calorie diet and the normal cardio workout so I need to bring in changes and then I decided to do some workout exercises and do intermittent fasting. That phase of weight plateau was very depressing, even after doing all that physical hard work as well as mental work, I wasn’t getting any results.

And thus I said that you should be mentally prepared and ready to take up this challenge. And trust me it is not easy, there are many points where you feel you will break now but now is not the correct time, you have a goal to achieve. But remember your motive should be clear, whatever you are doing for your body whether losing or gaining weight it should be done for yourself and for yourself only.

Source: Unknown

Losing weight is all about adopting HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

As I said it was hard but not impossible. If I can do it anyone can. My diet and workout plan worked for me but might not work for you because we all have different body shapes and compositions. So if you are planning to lose weight make sure to concern the certified authorities.  

Thank you,

For any queries reach out to the Instagram page of READ IT OUT LOUD.

By,

Humaira Kazi.    

I'm enjoying getting fit with HealthifyMe. Join me using my code GAZZ8HRYC and earn  ₹ 150  credits. https://hme.app.link/hCVGzzkq2cb #fitness #workout #yoga #diet #healthifyme