My struggle with weight loss has been going on for more than 3 years now. I have tried everything, from "The Juice Diet, Paleo, GM Diet, Military Diet.." so on and so forth! But I say.. NO more!
My necessity to diet, lose weight, everything started from this sudden new trend of losing weight. Suddenly, my 16 year old self, all 67 Kg of me, was bombarded with questions and remarks on fat, fatter, thin, thinner at every social function I attended. I was surrounded by aunties of 35 who lost 40+Kilos in just a year. I wanted to lose weight, look good, and especially escape from the "You've gained" comments. But after blindly following these numerous diets- I had less weight loss and more other losses. And I have made the change to eat well and eat clean.
(P.S. Skip to the end, to see my recent clean recipes)
Now just to let you know, here is my timeline of dieting:
- I started off doing somewhat of a low carb diet- which did NOT work for me,
- I slowly graduated to calorie counting. I'll confess, calorie counting worked for me! I lost over 11kg in around 10 months! From 69 to 58 Kg!! But I was obsessive, and had little time to do anything else besides measuring portions and making excuses not to eat.
- But being a student and a nervous snacker too, I ended up gaining back more than what I lost in just 3 months around the 12th Grade exam.
- After the exams, the struggle started up again and I did calorie counting again, but I could not keep up with it during college.
- Finally I decided to try my hand at Juice Dieting. I did the juice diet for more than 1 and a half month and I did lose weight. By now, I was used to feeling deprived, so it was not a hard thing to do.
- After the juice diet, I did the 3 day military diet for around two cycles and then started up calorie counting again for my brother's wedding last year.
- Finally, After the elder brother got married, I became absolutely clueless.
- I starved and binged all the time on a weekly basis. I felt lethargic, my period cycle got messed up and I had absolutely no energy.
- Even then, I tried to diet, finally my blood pressure started dropping all the time!
- Finally around October 2014, I went to the doctor,who told me I have a nutrition deficiency and Anemia. I also saw that I was my highest yet now! 75, almost 76Kg!! I also had splotchy skin and a severe case of dandruff.
- I started taking my vitamin supplements, and I started to let my mother put together my meals for me. She'd give me copious amounts of sauteed vegetables with a particular amount of rice or something similar.
- Now, 3 months later, my BP and nutrition deficiency is under control and I have learned my lesson!
What Have I Learned?
I learned that you cannot rush weight loss, and is only failing your body in doing so. It is also better to have a healthy, albeit fat, body than to have a thin and weak one. Weight loss should not really be the goal at all! It should be health, fat loss and mental stability. I finally learned that eating food is not a sin, but something to enjoy and should nourish the body.Getting fit is the reward for taking care of our body the way we should be! So once and for all! I have made a decision, NEVER to "diet" again in my life. No diets that exclude a food group, or glorify a particular food item will be a part of my life again!
And for the first time in my life, I have been cooking healthy, and eating clean for the last two weeks and I have to say it feels amazing! I eat everything in accordance to common sense and judgement. If I want to indulge, I do. I don't hold myself against it. But 5 days/7 I eat good clean meals with predominantly green and natural items. Pinterest has become my best friend and here are few of the recent experiments I have tried out!
Green Smoothie:
Rainbow Salad
Flourless Pancake
Pumpkin Onion Soup
Banana Oatmeal with Pomegranate
Cauliflower and Egg Rice
Coconut Crusted Chicken with a roasted chili, yogurt, honey dip
Cumin Pepper Chicken With Carrot Noodles
If you would like to know the recipes for any of these dishes, do let me know. If you want to know what I eat on a daily basis, you can follow me on Instagram at fathima.94
I know the struggles of all those ladies that are going through these trials. But remember, nothing is worth your health and sanity. No goal weight, no thigh gap and no people that need you to be thin to appreciate you. Remember this:
That is my two cents for today!
I would like to know about your struggles and achievements with weight loss, and fitness. Do you believe in "dieting"? Has any of it worked for you without any side effects?
I would like to know about your struggles and achievements with weight loss, and fitness. Do you believe in "dieting"? Has any of it worked for you without any side effects?