Thursday, September 12, 2013

Not just about weight loss

Two and half years ago when I weighed 171 pounds I dreaded to see myself in the mirror and hated every second of mirror/photo time.

The issue wasn't just weight it was also sickness, I went through 10 antibiotic treatments, 5 root canals and one gruesome surgery in a single year. Even one antibiotic treatment is very harsh for the body so I don't need to explain what these treatments one after the other did to me, it damaged every aspect of my system. I needed to feel hearty, cleanse my body toxins and almost certainly wanted to lose weight.

I decided to lose weight, the timeline set was 3 years! Any aggressive timeline wouldn't have been realistic.There were months in a row when I didn't lose a single pound and didn't know where I was going wrong, in turn it got harder to feel motivated and positive.

My quest to feel healthy and lose weight continues... 3 years are not over yet! I wanted to share review of some reading that kept me inspired and not give up:

1. Zenhabits (blog) - Leo is motivational writer, he writes about how to build really simple but very helpful habits - flossing your teeth, waking up early, advantages of green tea and how to build a habit to have it daily, exercise, how to find time to work on a hobby, good diet, travel tips and the list goes on.

I must say weight loss and working on fitness is not easy, Leo taught me how to be organized, manage time, prioritization in simple small steps. His posts get repetitive at times but I need that!
www.zenhabits.net - Read it and get inspired....


2. Books by Rujuta Diwekar - The more one reads on this topic the more number of theories confuse the mind. Some say eating frequent meals makes your body work all the time and some say eating small quantities after every 2-3 hours is the key to weight loss as our body can digest very small quantity at a time.
I like Rujuta's theory better, it suits my eating habits. Her books give me an affirmation that I am on a track that will work.

3. Perfect 10 Diet -  by Michael Aziz - Mind blowing book. It taught me the difference between food and food like products. A must read even if you don't want to lose weight.

Books that I didn't like - flat belly diet and Ultramind solution - This book is an advertisement of supplements. One might end up taking a bowl full of supplements if they plan to follow this book. A solution to each problem in life is some supplement according to the book. Little introspection is required if you have temper issues, no Gaba can help you with that.

1 comment:

The Shaolin said...

Interesting post.
I'm sure by now you must have read most if not all the literature on diets there is to read out there in the wild, (admittedly, I haven't read many food/nutrition books) but did any one of them touch on the hazards of Sugar? The one thing that is certainly *not* advisable is cut down fat intake to near zero and just keep an eye on the "calorie" intake. Not all calories are equal (but you probably know that by now!). The evil in our (modern) foods is NOT fat, but Sugar. Fat, by itself in moderation has never been a problem. And over-consuming fat is very hard (try gulping down 1 cup of butter, you won't eat for the rest of the day, but gulp down one cup of sugary soda, equal in calorie to fat, and your hunger won't budge even slightest). Unfortunately, sugar is surreptitiously added to every single thing we eat (fast food, mostly). If you are interested, I can share some links explaining that in excruciating detail.

BTW, wish you all the best in your quest to find your "health"! Keep sharing your findings, I have already added your recommendation, "The Perfect 10 Diet" to my to-read list.