Everyone knows that motherhood brings joy in life of a woman, but another truth is that it brings sorrows too. Now you must be wondering, what am I talking about. If you are Mom, am sure you must have guessed it. Yes! I am talking about the most worried topic “Weight”. Every woman who has entered into motherhood, post delivery has one big agenda on her chart and that is “Weight loss”.
Some mothers manage to loose it easily while some take months or even years to loose those extra kilos. I am a mother who falls under the second category. My little brat is now three years old and am still struggling to shed my kilos of weight. No am not saying that I have not succeeded in doing so, I am on a right path and the feeling of getting back in your old clothes can be felt, can’t be explained.
I had lost some of my pregnancy weight when my brat was one year old but in vain. I gained double the weight of what I have lost because I am foodie and can’t resist seeing lip-smacking food. Every day I used to vow with myself “I am going to start my exercises and diet from tomorrow”, which never came. I have not understood, how weird I looked till one day my friend pointed towards my bulging tummy and I felt really shy about it.
Then and there I decided to be serious and took my first step towards losing weight. I started going on morning walks but irrespective of walking continuously for an hour for three months my weight has not gone down by 100 gms. I was disheartened on seeing no results on scale, irrespective of my hard efforts (according to me getting up at 5 am and brisk walking is an effort 🙂). Fortunately, I did not loose hope as I read many articles, books and researched on internet which busted many myths which I had in my mind about losing weight.
Here I am listing those myths which acts as a mental block and deter one from losing weight:
- Weight can’t be lost without hard core exercise: Exercise is necessary to get rid of toxins and rejuvenate our body so we remain fit to function all day long. Whenever one does any activity the rate of pumping blood increases which helps in improving our stamina and metabolic rate of body. It is like oiling your vehicle to help it remain in good shape. Surely it helps in weight loss but is not the sole factor on which one can loose weight. I myself did brisk walking for an hour for three months but have not lost 100 gms 😦 (reason I relied solely on it 😉 ) Hence, the thought that exercising for hours will help to loose weight is a myth.
- One needs to go on strict diet to shed kilos: What comes in mind on the word “DIET”. Am sure everyone visualises boiled veggies, bland soups, fruits and food made with almost no taste. Definitely you will loose eating such food but can you survive till horizon being on it itself? Just tell me how long can you eat it? I myself can’t and hence never lost till I busted out that it’s a myth. You can loose and that too by eating what you love, the only key being (a) control your portion size and (b) Stop eating till full after dusk.
- Avoid eating food rich in carbohydrates: Carbohydrates are a source of energy to our body. It fuels our body with essential nutrients to keep us going. So eliminating carbs from diet is going to leave you dull and lethargic. One needs to eat all good carbs, proteins, vitamins and minerals in appropriate portions to allow our body to function properly. I started eating carbs first thing in the morning to boost my energy levels after a night long fast and reduced its intake as dawn turned to dusk. It meant, I ate all carbs rich food like potatoes, upma, poha, sabudana khichdi and still lost weight.
- STOP eating sweets: It is true that eating sweets on a daily basis is not good for helath and weight. But completely eliminating from your diet is no good either (especially if you have a sweet tooth ;)). Since sweets are mostly made with refined sugar and loads of ghee, it is said to avoid it to loose weight effectively. But this never means that you need to stop eating it completely. I am not a person who has sweet tooth but then also there are some sweets on which I just can’t resist myself such as gulabjamun and jalebi. I try to eat it before noon so my taste buds are happy and my weight is also in check (Tummy khus aur mummy khus 😉)
- Being on liquid diet makes you loose weight: I read it somewhere that being more on liquids help to loose weight. Surely it does, but the irony is as soon as you start eating you will gain double the weight lost (principal returned with interest 😉 ). One should drink around 2-3 litre of water in a day to let body flush out the impurities but being on liquid diet is like keeping body out of nourishment.
I started my weight loss regimen a year back and have lost fifteen kilos till date. I know that I have lost it really slow but the loss is stagnant. One thing I can bet, if you are eating healthy with portion size in check and exercising daily for 30 minutes in a day, no one can stop you from achieving your ideal weight. I would like to thank my friend (Vandana Das) who always inspired me to join workout regimen which actually helped me a lot.
My mantra of losing weight is:
Please Note: I was thinking since long to write about my weight loss journey but was tempted to write one today when I saw 30 Day Fitness challenge started by World of Moms. It is an amazing information site for all mothers/would be mothers.
Thoughts of an Inquisitive Mind... 