Foot Instincts

How did I lose 12 kgs in 60 days ?

• December 2, 2018
• Tanushree
• Our Travels

It was the 3rd of Oct’2016. I was 34 years old, had my angel newborn baby in my arms, and rightfully so, I weighed my heaviest ever – 76 Kgs. 🙁

What a lovely experience pregnancy and motherhood are all about, of course, minus everything that makes the woman look fat and worn out. The body deposits fat at all the wrong places, making her look impeccably uneven from all possible angles. Recovering from a C-section, learning to breastfeed, nursing round the clock, battling postpartum depression and trying to adjust just about everything to the “new normal” does put weight reduction or fitness at the back-burner for some time and sometimes forever. And if not paid heed to, it remains with her, becomes a part of her, forever. And that’s how I had also accepted my future self to be.

Also read – 76 point something

20 Months later…

I had just managed to lose about 6 kgs without putting much effort. For my height and weight, the ideal weight was 55kgs. The uphill climb looked so intimidating that I gave up even before I could do anything about it. By then, we had moved to Germany from India and were traveling extensively within Europe. I had no day’s job to go to. I had all the time to eat, chill and relax. And that’s exactly what I did. I carried on with my late night binges, savoring my favorite desserts and hogging on self-cooked Indian food or local delicacies while we traveled. Somewhere I feel, I turned to food a lot more, to feel better. 

Then one fine day…

While I was toying with the idea of becoming a Vegan – which had bothered me ever since I had read about the dreadful facts of the dairy and the poultry industry and its impact on the environment, I decided to just go ahead with it and experiment. If I couldn’t sustain, I was happy to go back to being what I always was. I married this principle to Intermittent Fasting. I was quite keen at trying this someday, ever since I had come to know that Joshua Fields Millburn from The Minimalist did it to stay fit. I just blindly copied his diet from his website, replaced all the non-vegetarian food he ate for the protein with the plant-based substitutes. And what begun was the most fulfilling experience of my life – The most rewarding journey towards health and fitness.

What had started as a trial and an experiment, has become a lifestyle choice now. Today marks the 150th day since I embarked on this journey. I am extremely happy to see the results in my body. I had lost 12 Kgs straight in just 60 days and continue to weigh 58 kgs even now. I try to follow my diet regime, quite strictly, every single day. Though vegan food is inaccessible and unavailable on many occasions, I have still somehow managed and gone pretty strong at it. However, I do compromise on the fasting routine at times, when I am traveling or meeting up with friends and family. It isn’t that I love my food any lesser now. It’s just that I have chosen to eat mindfully and I do exercise for my overall physical and mental health. And if doing so, in some way, I am able to contribute to reducing my carbon footprint on the planet, my conviction to do so, just becomes a lot stronger. 

Veganism and Intermittent Fasting in isolation, or in combination would definitely help to reduce fat and bring you to a comfortable or a desirable weight. But having said that, fitness is something that would come only with physical exercise. So after evading it for all these years, I have finally started to run, along with trying to cross-train( practicing yoga and meditation) on alternate days. I have registered for a timed 10k, which I would be running a couple of months from now. Moreover fitness routine also keeps my back pain and overall health under check.

Before I settled in for this lifestyle, I did get my blood work done at the 90 days milestone and consulted my General Physician for my overall health status. Everything seemed to be running at its perfect pace.

This has been my shortest, however greatly satisfying and most sustainable journey towards becoming the fittest and the healthiest version of myself. 

I had always been that person who had zero willpower.  In spite of being a wife of a Marathoner, I could never manage to get myself to do any kind of physical exercise ever. I was lazy. I gave way too many excuses. And self-sympathy was my greatest weakness. I was someone who ate mindlessly, without caring enough about the source of the food or its impact on my health or the environment. I binged on highly processed food every night. I slept at unearthly hours and had devoted myself completely to the jobs, which paid my bills. I had hardly paid any attention to anything that was Me. I was a walking, talking, a living pile of everything that was not needed and was inadvertently sabotaging my physical, emotional and spiritual existence. So, if I can, you too can. Believe you me, there would be days, when nothing will go as per the plan, but what would make a difference is that – you never give up. 

It’s never too late if you have realized what’s right for you. It’s never the end really unless you have accepted it to be. It’s never about anything else that brings you happiness but your own existence. Value it. Respect it. Nurture it.

What has been your personal journey to fitness or reaching your right weight? Do share your story with us and feel free to post a comment here or DM me at tanushree.h.m@gmail.com, if you want to know the complete details of my diet and fitness regime.