Absolutely Raj, why not? In fact health >>> wealth.
I will write my entire background, context and disclaimer in this post on my weight loss journey.
Firstly, Big disclaimer: I’m not a certified health coach, medical practitioner and no formal education in medicine, nutrition.
Nutrition is a personal subject. What works for me may or may not work for others and could even pose health hazard.
Bear with a lot of personal details. They are important as “humiliation”, “realisation” are very strong motivational factors in any journey.
Background:
I have has love-hate relationship with weight loss. As far back I remember, I was never fit. Probably because of my mother’s overly love (this is like blaming her instead of taking personal responsibility, but truth had to be told). Her intentions are always good - so are every mother’s - but execution on me is pretty poor. From childhood, I was fed mostly high carb foods (rice, sugar, carrot sweet, rice sweet etc.), the foods themselves are not dangerous, but the portion sizes and frequency of it were. I was a very studious one. School topper, 97.5% in Plus one, Gold medalist from then India’s top 10 engineering institute. So, all through I was fed because I need energy to study.
So, my tolerance for “enough food” signal to reach brain is very high. I’m always hungry.
I’m a short guy/ average at 164 cms and max weight reached was 102 kilos, once at 17 years and then at 26 years.
Enter job. As usual, excelled (sorry for not being particularly modest as I’m building upto my story). In fact became project manager in straight 5-6 years. At the age of 27 years, I proposed to a slim, dark but moderately beautiful girl (she’s a tad taller than me!). To my surprise, she said “Yes”. I’m sure most girls won’t bother to look at me a second time in the “looks department”. Of course, not every girl will judge a guy based on looks, but still in 20s, that’s where the sweetest pot lies.
Many were happy for me, but once in a while, a comment was made by a few, how the hell did he bag her? Then realisation dawned on me. I have to lose weight if not for the comments, at least for my girl (the attempt here was NOT for my own sake - which was a mistake because I later on put most of the weight back on).
Joined a gym, slugged it out. Cut out junk food to practically zero. I reached 69 kilos just before my marriage. You won’t believe me, how many people approached me on weight loss tips!
Most of the weight loss is due to exercise NOT much change in food, except cutting McDonalds type food.
The journey back to 90 kilos from 69 kilos started and since then it was yo-yo. Gym in 2018, lost 5-6 kilos and again put it back.
Present context:
What’s the use of wealth when I have no energy to walk? Health in shambles? Much better to be a middle class person and super health than a millionaire with daily hospital visits. Much sadder, depend on somebody in 65s for mobility, if at all I make it to that age.
I want to make changes. Started reading. This time, the passion I exhibited on stock markets, I showed it on nutrition.
In last 7 months, I lost 11 kilos and ZERO GYM. Only light walking daily in morning and evening sun. In my personal observation, nutrition is much more important then exercise. Both are important but nutrition is much more.
The main difference this time is, ZERO temptation for a cake, ice cream, biscuit etc.
I’m NOT saying, everyone should cut all carbs, but for me personally, it is either zero or full. I cannot stop by eating 2 slices of cake, I have to eat half of it. For such people, it is better to make it zero.
Key points in my journey so far:
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Intermittent fasting (IF) (16 hours to 20 hours) daily. Yes, I do daily. 6 pm/ 7pm is my last meal and 11am at least is my first meal. No exceptions. It took me 3 years to reach this stage of IF. So, I suggest anybody to start slow and work it up. Initially, even 10 hours seemed hell for me. But if somebody has any medical condition like diabetes etc, IF may probably be difficult initially at least and must need a doctor’s vigilence.
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Maximum 100 carbs per day. Most days it is 60-80 grams. Some days it is even 40 grams and sometimes it is 120 grams. Non-negotiable. I’m willing to give up on IF but not on carbs restriction. This means, I had to give up dosa, sweets etc. It’s 8 months I touched any sweet. In the interim, I had to visit 2 family functions and 3 vacations but I stuck to this. I politely refused to eat sweets at family functions and instead ate a protein bar or ate curd rice.
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Proteins and fats: Meat, fish, milk, butter, eggs, curd, nuts, panneer.
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Carb sources: Little rice, mono-floral honey, limited fruits - 1 or 2 fruits a day (pomegranate or orange), vegetables in very limited quantities, dark chocolate (70%), mushrooms.
95% of my food comes from above sources ONLY. I order from Licious or Fresh2home 100%.
Carb:protein:fats ratio = 20:30:50.
I will experiment with this ratio as I go on. I’m slowly incorporating resistance training. Started with farmer’s walk 2 months back.
Currently, I do not take any supplements. Sometime eat protein bars (Yoga bar or The whole truth bars for variety).
I feel the best at 41 years and I wore my marriage pant for my kid’s annual day celebrations today. It was loose-fitting!
Again,
- Every one need not follow the same path as mine but most sustainable paths must pass through proper nutrition and then exercise.
- This may seem a tough eating regimen but believe me, after a few months, it becomes second skin. Even if it is tough, it is better to face this than ill health in 60s.
- Nothing here is medical advice, I just wrote my own journey and none should take this as advice.
- We do not realise, but if you really count how much carbs you are eating, most obese and metabolically sick people eat upwards of 300 grams carbs. Unless you are an athlete, am not sure why we need so many carbs. Therapeutic carb restriction. Trial and error method because ONLY you know about your own body.
Whatever you do, do what can be sustainable by YOU for the rest of your life. A cheat meal here and there won’t harm but it should not be every week! If you can’t live without a Jalebi, then fine, have it but count it as part of your carb allowance!
I’m in my early stages of learning nutritional science, so read this post accordingly.
I hope, I’m of some help, @raj1968. All the best!
Edit:
Controversial points:
- Ancel Keys probably is a big reason for the wrong food pyramid taught in schools today.
- Saturated fat is not the culprit, it’s the junk carbs.
- They blamed saturated fat (butter) for what sugar did.
- Big tobacco, Big Pharma, Big FMCG/sugar have representatives in most key boards of health advisory government bodies. Irony! Conflict of interest, any body. Lobbying in US is corrupt mostly. Anyway, I can write a lot on this, courtesy, recent books, but that’s another subject for another day. My blood boils to learn what Ancel Keys did to favor a particular US president.