I’ve been a ‘healthy’ kid all my life and when you grow up in India name-calling and body shaming is something you are used to. I have gone from being slightly overweight to overweight to borderline obese in the last 13-14 years

In late 2010, when I was almost 17 years old I started my first efforts towards weight loss. I joined a gym, started working out regularly and I remember losing weight quickly back then as I lost some 11 kgs in 3 months or so. But for the next year, I lost only 3 kgs. There was nothing that I did wrong, in fact as time progressed I only increased and improved in the way I worked out. That’s when as an 18-year old I was told about nutrition and how each body functions and reacts differently. And that’s when my real learning started.

Honestly, I wasn’t completely unaware about my body. I had been an athlete for a long time and I had my fair share of injuries and trust me nothing teaches you about your body more than injuries. But when I started learning about nutrition and how my body behaves I was surprised to find out some really interesting things.

But, sadly I couldn’t keep up with my gym and other workout practices because of two reasons – a) engineering and college life & b) I was lazy (there’s no hiding it). Years passed by, I gained those 14 kgs I had lost in that 1+ year plus as my body moved from teenage to adolescence a few more kgs got added along the way.

It’s not like I didn’t try losing weight again, I did. Every time I would start, lose a couple of kgs, but something or the other would happen and I would lose inspiration again. Then in 2019, I decided I would pursue my masters and I moved to Madrid. I spent almost 3 months there had the time of my life and that’s when I decided it’s ideal time to start working on my health again. Again I joined a gym, started working out regularly and did the whole process again. In January 2020 I joined the gym and on the first day I weighed 112 kgs. 2 months into my new regime I had lost 7 kgs, now weighing 105 kgs.

But that’s when the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, things went haywire and before I knew it I was back in India quarantined in a 8×8 room for 28 days. Just another excuse for my lazy ass to stop working out. Plus I was back home eating home cooked food. Before I knew it I was back to 112 kgs. And the cycle continued for the next few months – I would get conscious of my weight, start working out at home, lose a couple of kgs, lose motivation, again gain weight. In all this one thing remained constant, me eating tasty food that I loved not caring about what’s going inside my body.

In October 2020, almost 6 months into the pandemic and the so called ‘new normal’, I weighed 117.5 kgs. That was the time I knew I needed to act on it. I spent almost couple of days researching everything I could about weight-loss and read about thinks like ketogenesis, keto diet, Intermittent fasting among other things. And I combined all of it with things I already knew about my body. And I prepared a routine for myself.

Firstly, if you notice something about my previous weight-loss practices, I tend to lose weight quickly at the start and then it kind of slows down. Many would say that’s not a healthy thing. And yes I would also say that it’s not always healthy but remember that the first weight you lose is what in layman terms are called liquid fats. Liquid fats are easy to burn and hence easier to lose. So it’s okay if you lose them quickly if you make sure you are eating a good balanced diet and keeping yourself hydrated (very very important) at all times.

Second thing you should know is that in Jan 2020 when I joined the gym in Madrid, I did a full body analysis and found out I had 36% fats in my body. Which meant I needed to focus more on fat burning while slowly working on my stamina building and muscle building.

So what did I do?

When it comes to weight loss, there is only one rule –

“Burn more calories than you consume”

So, I first worked on creating a calorie deficiency diet. For this you need to first understand how much calories does your body burn in a day. Even for someone who does no physical work, wakes up eats, sits in front of a screen and then sleeps, there is a minimum calorie amount that the body burns in a day to survive. This is called as the general maintenance calorie. So for someone who is looking to lose weight, first and foremost, make sure you consume less calories than your general maintenance calorie. For a many my age the general maintenance calorie would be somewhere around 1800 Cal/day. So since I wanted to do an extreme weight-loss routine, I started consuming somewhere around 1500-1600 calories a day.

Another important learning from my past is about my metabolism, I know my metabolism was pretty slow and it could use as much boost as possible if I wanted to loose weight quickly without falling sick. This is where Intermittent Fasting comes into picture. IF is very simple, you eat within a pre decided window and the rest of the day you fast. You can fast for 12 hours and eat within the remaining 12 hours, you could also do 14-10 or 16-8 or 18-6 or even a 20-4 cycle. I myself started with a 16-8 cycle and now have worked up to a 20-4 cycle. Sometimes once in a while I even switch to a 22-2 cycle.

Third important aspect of my routine is what I consume, now since my body was 36% fats my main aim was to bring this down to less than 15% first. Which means I want to convert my body into a fat burning machine or in other words I wanted my body to go into ketogenesis. Ketogenesis, in simple terms, is a state where your body starts burning fats as the primary source of energy instead of carbohydrates. So all you have to do is minimize your carb intakes to almost zero, maintain a good protein intake so that you do not lose muscle and increase good unsaturated fats in your diet. Use butter instead of oil, use cheese as much as you want and use unprocessed oil as much as possible. Nuts are also a good source of fats. All this while making sure you consume less than your maintenance calories. Apart from this make sure you are getting your adequate intake of vitamins fibres and calcium.

After this comes the fourth and in my opinion the most important factor of your weight-loss journey. Hydration. You need to make sure when you are following a certain weight-loss routine; especially a calorie deficiency & IF based routine, that you are consuming sufficient water. I drink almost 5-6 L of water every day. The recommended amount is 3-4 L on the internet everywhere. But in my personal experience, in weeks where I have continuously had 5+ litres of water every day I lost weight consistently.

So, what did I achieve?

As of April 2021, in 25 weeks of following this routine, I lost 18kgs and now I weigh 99.6 kgs. It’s been a long journey, there were days I have cried because I was craving food that I loved. There were days I would stay awake till 3 am scrolling through food videos and photos on Instagram and cry myself to sleep. But in all this, I made sure I never gave up.

I won’t lie, I did slip away on a few occasions. I had my sister’s marriage between this period. 3 days of unhealthy eating happened during that time. Then when I moved back to Mumbai in Feb 2021, the next 4 weekends were spent partying and drinking, that didn’t help either, but I always balanced it out on the weekdays. And even on those weekends I made sure I was at least doing a 18-6 cycle.

So to sum it all, I lost 18kgs in 25 weeks by bringing a discipline to what I ate. For the first time in 10 years I weigh in double digits now. And this may feel like a 25 week journey to you, for me it’s a 10 year journey.

I still have a long way to go, and as I keep going along this journey, my methods will keep evolving and changing as I constantly keep learning more and more about my body. I hope you also find something useful from this post as you start your own journey of understanding your body.