How I lost 5 Kgs in a week.

In the last one month I have had some significant successes in my weight loss efforts. This includes a 5 Kg reduction in a 1 week period. Following my updates on Facebook I had quite a few requests asking for details. And so in response to all that here’s some details that may be of interest to those who are wide like me :(

In one of my previous posts Tond Reduction Contd . . .  I had summarized my efforts. The special emphasis on Contd . . . was due the WIP nature of the results I achieved :( So be forewarned that what I am going to write hasn’t quite been entirely effective on myself, but when did that ever stop me from giving gyan :D

Despite the lack of visible results it’s my opinion that it wasn’t due to the lack of effort. In fact in 2010 (Details of what I did) I put in more than 140 hours of Cardio and YTD 2011 I have clocked in more than 110 hours of Cardio. Despite this number (Huge in my opinion) my weight loss wasn’t very significant. I lost about 4 Kg between Jan-Mar 2010 and ever since my weight has been hovering at around 90-93 Kg.

I felt the need to do something after gaining about 17.5 Kgs in the first two years of my stay in Singapore. In addition I had also started experiencing medical problems and had spend in excess of more than S$1000 on medical bills. I used to visit a nice Surdie Doc who after many visits made the point that the problem wasn’t some unknown ailment but essentially a lifestyle issue. In my post Tond Reduction Contd . . . I had spoken about my topline thought process before I initiated these steps. But for those lazy bums like myself who wouldn’t want to read all that lemme repeat:

1. I didn’t want to give up hogging.
2. Whatever I did had to be sustainable.
3. Measurement was key. 

Of all the three measurement was the most important one concept. For it was measurement that help me apprise the situation and helped figure why I gained so much weight and once I initiated my routines it helped me with a few course correction steps. In addition I had spoken about my days in the Gurgaon Gym Elemention, when I achieved some very significant results but no weight loss whatsoever. So I wanted some very specific target that I could monitor and use the results for motivation if the other things didn’t happen.

As expected the other things didn’t happen and I used the charts to keep myself motivated. But then the lack of further progress made me realize that something had to change and the first principle to get a relook was the hogging principle :( Its so happened that I met a fitness expert who said that effective weight loss is 70% diet and 30% exercise.  Overtime I rephrased this to create my own maxim “To loose weight diet, and exercise to make sure it doesn’t come back :D”

One of the first things that I did in this direction was to learn about the feeling of being bloated. Before I figured that I was like a bottomless garbage bin. I would just gorge on huge quantities of food and it showed :( However mere moderation didn’t quite wonders and I continued to hover around the 90-93 Kg mark. I have been sharing my result with a few well wishers and amongst them is my tormentor-in-chief Paggu Jain :(

He forced me into the so-called GM Diet (Veg Version). I had phenomenal results and at the end of it I had lost 5 Kgs. Inspired by the results Mr Jain forced me into another round where my beloved wife joined me. But unlike my first attempt the results were a bit disappointing: I lost just 1 Kg and Anju experienced instances of Pukiness, Headaches and some dizziness.

The GM Diet link is apparently located on the home page of an IIM Ahmedabad Prof, B. H. Jajoo. This connection had increased the credibility of this program in my eyes to almost blind faith proportions ;) But on doing some googling I found some interesting links:

1.  LIVESTRONG.com article about GM Diet.
2.  Roger Cohen’s NYT article on the GM Diet.
3.  A Wiki on Cabbage Soup Diet
4.  Random Link about Cabbage Soup Diet. 

Now despite the concerns raised in these articles about this being a fad diet I did lose 5 Kgs in a week. That’s more than what I achieved with almost 2 years of exercise. The one good thing that I did was to increase the amount of exercises that I did during the period and ate out to my heart’s content all that was permitted. While I am not sure why I lost so much but exercising hard in a no carbohydrate diet must have helped. And all the water I drank makes me feel that not all the loss wasn't due to water loss alone. So while I do see merit in the point that this GM diet may not be blind faith material. But the results I achieved and the following points will make me go to it for a quick fix weight loss ;)

1. No restriction on the quantities consumed.
2. Immediate results and the feeling that my other activities will help me sustain the gains.
3. The ingredients look pretty safe and even if there are some side effects of consuming a lot of veggies and fruits, I don't think the effects would be long term ;)

Assuming that you like me want a few short cuts to lose those extra kilos then a few points may be worth remembering:

1. Drink at least 10 glasses of water (I did 14). There are two benefits:
   • Some ppl say that the loss occurs due to water loss. Drinking enough should ensure that isn’t the case ;)
   • Increased water intake will aid in detoxification ;)
2. If possible avoid salt. This will reduce water retention in your body and with adequate water intake can improve the detox effect.
3. The first three days are the toughest when you have cravings, headaches and all those troubles. So keep lots of fruits and veggies within reach and have them as soon as you have those hunger pangs ;) During the days Veggies are allowed you can try carrots for that full feeling ;)
4. Surviving on Watermelon alone can give some good results on the fruit days.
5. Do not reduce the quantities consumed. Consume more of what is allowed.
6. Do some exercises during the period.
7. Ideally start on a Saturday or a long weekend. Working first three days can be tough as some of friends found to their dismay :(

I will conclude with a word of caution and the LIVESTRONG.com quote “The diet may be effective but is not necessarily advised.” Further diet alone as a tool of weight loss may bad idea. Try moving to a complete and sustainable lifestyle, but then when you hog over a weekend and gain three kilos then it may not be a bad idea to give it a try. (I did that over the last weekend and today is Day-1 GMD round 3).