anxiety – One Life To Live

How IF Changed My Life

My Story

Today, I thought I’d share my story which might be of help to those desperately trying to lose weight and lead a healthy lifestyle.

I’ve been overweight for almost 20 years. I had no knowledge of when to eat at what times during day/night. But, I had this intense desire to lose weight and burn fat (especially stubborn fat) which I didn’t know how to get rid of.

I’m 5 feet 4 inches tall and used to weigh approx. 147 to 149lbs. My weight used to fluctuate between the mentioned lbs and it’s been like this for about 20 years.

How It Started

Year 2005–2010 (New York)

I was living in New York during that period of time. I got myself enrolled in a local gym at(New York Sports Club). I was fully pumped and quite excited to get started off…

I did workouts randomly at my own pace mostly on the machines. This went on for some time maybe for six months or so. Once in every two weeks, I used to step on the weighing scale secretly praying that I’d lose a few pounds. When this did not happen, I said to myself “Maybe what I’m doing is not right”. So let me hire a “Personal Trainer”.

My trainer came up with a workout routine which was mostly a mix of cardio and strength training. While the workouts were effective where I felt I was pushed to my limits, it lasted for about only a few months. I had made no progress. My BMI was still the same and I didn’t lose a single pound. So I quit.

Thyroid

I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism in the year 2007 and was low on Vitamin D. My physician told me that it was very difficult to lose weight especially for people suffering from hypothyroidism.

Year 2011–2013

I gave birth to two beautiful boys and in the process gained more weight. Not a single day passed by without thinking about what else I should do or try to lose weight.

Back on Track

Year 2014- 2016 (New Jersey)

I was very determined to try something new. So, I got myself enrolled in

Local gym — Where I used to workout mostly in the mornings. Again the workouts were a mix of cardio and strength training
Kickboxing — Attend kickboxing sessions twice a week
Korean Yoga — 4 times a week

I lost about a few lbs and my weight dropped to 145lbs. I was ecstatic but still overweight. My weight remained at 145lbs and didn’t lose an lb more.

Year 2016–Present (India)

Diet Plan + Strength Training — I hired a personal trainer at a local gym in India and went on to do “Strength Training” for 2 years. I had learnt that exercise alone will not help lose weight. You need to follow a diet plan.

1st Diet Plan — All Natural

My personal trainer took me to a dietitian who practiced naturopathy(herb based diets). She had prescribed a diet plan which was very tough to follow. There was no follow up. It was a one time plan which cost me INR 10,000. I gave up after doing it for about a month.

2nd Diet Plan — Virtual online healthy eating app

I’m a South Indian and a strict vegetarian. This time I made sure that the dietitian understood my eating habits and prescribe a diet plan accordingly. But alas, it lasted for about a year. When I started off with the diet plan, I used to get irritated very often. There were a lot of restrictions imposed on what I should eat and what I shouldn’t. This made me very uncomfortable in fact suffocated. I was like what is the purpose of living this way. So I quit…

BTW, I did lose few pounds. But I was unhappy. I vowed I’d never ever consult a dietitian again.

Change of Workouts

I quit the local gym and got enrolled in another gym (Cure.fit). What I liked about cure.fit is it has a plethora of workout styles which you can choose from each day. It got me very excited as I was too bored of doing the same workouts.

Jan 2019 — March 2020

I began to enjoy workouts at the gym (cure.fit). My BMI was 25.9 with Body Fat of 37.2 %. I weighed 145 lbs / 65 kg. Slowly the body fat % started going down and it dropped to 35.4 % in March 2020. My weight dropped to 138 lbs/63 kg approx. I knew that something was working. I got my thyroid checked and it was under control. Please be aware I was not following any diet plan.

What I ate

My eating routine consisted of coffee with milk and sugar, South Indian breakfast (eg idli, dosas etc), fruits at least 1 per day, nuts (almonds and pistachios), white rice/brown rice with vegetables, lentils soup for lunch and yogurt/raita, milk tea in the evening followed by 2 chapatis/rotis for dinner along with dal/curry. I stopped eating junk and fried food.

Despite losing weight I still wasn’t satisfied because I was very adamant about losing stubborn fat. The body fat was still very high compared to the muscle mass and that made me feel horrible.

Intermittent Fasting

May 2020 — Present

I came across a good friend of mine who was obese and lost a hell lot of weight through Intermittent Fasting. She could easily get rid of her stubborn fat by doing IF for 8 months.

Not knowing what IF was, I quickly googled up and was convinced that this might be the one that’ll help me reach my goals.

18: 6 Fasting

I started following this plan where you fast for 18 hrs and eat during a 6-hour window. Initially, the first week was very challenging… I’d rather say it was a test to my mental ability. I quickly got over that stage and the real transformation process began…

I can proudly say that I’ve lost a good amount of stubborn fat and my BMI is now in a normal range. I made sure I worked out during certain times in a day to get maximum benefit.

When to workout?

Ketosis Phase — This phase kicks off after 12 hours from your last meal. In this stage, the body burns fat into energy instead of relying on carbohydrates. I did workouts which comprised of body weight/cardio/yoga. I exercise for 6 days a week and do my workouts only in the Ketosis Phase.

What do I drink/eat?

I’ve become a huge fan of black coffee and green tea. So when the hunger pangs kick in and when my stomach growls I have one of these. For lunch, I eat brown rice with veggies and dal, salad with raita/yogurt. I also eat nuts (almonds and pistachios) for my evening snack along with milk and sugar tea. For dinner, I eat chapatis/rotis/parathas with curry. I also eat homemade muffins/cookies/dark chocolate. The point here is I ate what I liked consciously.

IF Tracker

There is an app called Simple: Fasting Timer & Meal Tracker app available on Google Play Store for free. The beauty of this app is it allows you to choose the plan that best fits your needs and also explains the current phase your body is going through. For example, the following processes trigger in our body every single day

Blood Sugar Goes Up — We are in this stage most of the time because our eating window has no closing time
Blood Sugar Goes Low
Blood Sugar is Normal
Ketosis Begins
Fat Burning
Autophagy

Take a look at my results with Simple Intermittent Fasting App: https://simple.life/?c=share

My Weight Progress

Conclusion

I currently weigh 128.5 lbs and my Body Fat has gone down to 25%. I’m finally getting rid of stubborn fat. Thanks to Intermittent Fasting for making my life better. I feel more confident and finally relieved.

Please note what I’ve written is purely based on my experiences. I suggest you chose whatever works best for you.

Intermittent Fasting is not merely fasting it’s eating consciously…