Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Moti Weighting Factor

I have always been asked that how I kept myself motivated and committed to loose weight. There were people who complained that they loose motivation and give up on weight loss.

In this post I will share the things that got me started on my path to weight loss. What inspired me, what motivated me and what kept me committed.

The wake up call - Renne Williams, who was also known as a half ton mom. I came across her story on you tube and that video made a great impact on me. She was such a beautiful woman but she was an invalid because of her weight. It was easy to say that she suffered from a rare condition where the weight just keep increasing but a little research on her back ground showed that she started off with being over weight and somewhere she lost control of her diet.

She denied that she ate more than was required but there were reports that she would eat till her stomach hurt and would consume 8 burgers. She went through a gastric bypass surgery and died after the surgery at the age of 29. She was too young to die and no matter how I look at this story one thing never escaped my conscious and that is she got morbidly obese because of her eating habits.

Being trapped in your own body is a hell that only fat people are aware of.





When I saw the video I told myself that I would never let food control me and I will be in control of the food that I consume. This story marked the start of my weight loss journey.

You are what you eat - This is a TV series featured on BBC. I started following it on you tube. This series helped me analyze my own food habits.

In the series the dietician arranges on a table all the food consumed by a person in a week. People would start crying when they see the amount of junk on the table. It was very hard to believe that how much crap a person can eat in a week.



As an exercise I visualized everything that I ate in a week on a table and do you know how the table looked

1. 5 sandwiches with cheese.
2. Unaccounted amount of rice
3. 3 burgers with large french fries
4. Unaccounted amount of cold drinks and sweets.
5. 3-4 Nans plus the restaurants dishes.
6. 1-2 pizza
7. Unaccounted snack like potato chips, fried crisps
etc.
8. Pasta and 2 minutes noodles.

I used to eat out mostly during the week, grabbing a burger and french fries after work was a ritual followed by dinner at restaurant.

The list above is just a short version of what I used to eat back then and to be honest I never realized that my diet was so high in calories till I visualized it as a bulk.

Before I started with my weight loss I regularly watched the show and I was amazed how much crap can we as humans can really eat. This show made me analyze my own diet and as a first step to right diet I gave up eating outside food for a year and experienced the wonderful changes that came along.

Who can motivate you best - No one but yourself. You will have to find a way to keep yourself going. For me it was the desire to wear good clothes, clothes that I wanted to wear NOT the clothes that I wore just because they fitted me better. I was tired of going to plus size stores, I never liked the designs but still bought the clothes because that was the only size that fitted me best.

Down in dumps - If I tell you that you will feel motivated to loose weight each and every second of your weight loss journey then I am not being honest with you. At least twice in a week you will have demotivating bouts, where you will just hate your body, question why are you pushing yourself so much, hate the world, hate yourself for being fat and will feel angry and frustrated to exercise.

It used to happen to me as well and I always used to talk about it to my sister and my husband and as a tape recorder they used to tell me the same thing over and over again but that same thing used to uplift my spirits. Talking to people dear to you does help.

Sometimes, just going for a fresh air walk used to help as well. Down in the dumps days will be there and you will have to find your own way to step out of the mess.

What does it take to lose weight
- A good pair of walking shoes, healthy diet and strict allotted time for yourself. An hour walk outside my house did the trick for me and I still follow the one hour 'ME' time, I give a damn for the world during this hour. Its dedicated to me and my body no one can share this time with me.


The Cup of Commitment - Being strict for one day and letting loose on the second day is not by any means commitment. I have never been committed in my efforts for weight loss and had always failed miserably.

This time around I told myself either I won't start BUT if I am starting it I will make sure to struggle till the end. This thought made me get out of my house for a daily walk.

There is always a small voice that whispers inside us, in most cases we choose to ignore the voice. Whenever I wanted to ditch my efforts towards weight loss this voice always whispered about my start and finish commitment and it kept me going.

There are no tricks to be committed to something, either you try to push yourself and adopt this virtue OR you can choose to fail over and over again. Choice is always in our hands.

There were times when I didn't even attempt to loose weight because I knew I was not committed and would fail all over again. The thing is you never know till you start. Don't give up without getting the real feel of the experience, just rejecting the thought because you think you have a meek willpower is not a good idea. Attempt weight loss no matter how low on willpower meter you rate yourself, like me you never know how much can you surprise your ownself. Those with the weakest willpower often come out as strongest.

Keeping the fire alive
- Reading health articles, weighing myself weekly and recording the result and experimenting on different aspects of weight loss kept the fire alive for me.

You can achieve whatever you want but the first step of achieving is to have faith in yourself and believing in yourself. More often than we realize we have very little faith in our own capabilities.

Remember, there is only one person who can never ditch you and that is YOU YOURSELF. There is only one person who will stand by you always and that is YOU YOURSELF. Then why not give this person some credit, why not believe and have faith in this person. Why not give this person a fair chance by believing that she will win no matter what.

Its time to stop rating this person low, stop criticizing this person and stop telling this person that she cannot achieve what she desires.

Give yourself a chance by believing in yourself and you will be amazed by YOU YOURSELF.

17 comments:

  1. very very true. i also have seen documentary of this lady. i am just watching you are what you eat now on tv while reading your post. i feel so much horrified because i started to have high blood pressure and joints problems. i just have xray this morning for my left joint. i feel hurt when i walk. i am horrified because my mom have these problem from when she was 46. now she is 50 but always i am watching her in pain joits pains (arthritis) and high blood pressure. she is always on medications.
    i was going gym but now i am stuck in house because i have to rest until my joint get better.
    i have been to slimming world and you know what i am quite surprised by their green plan . it is quite like your diet. oops not diet but lifestyle. they also says its not diet it is lifestyle.it is alot veg, fruits and lentils beans with , dairy and other things in portions and also a treat in a while. it is very healthy and i am getting my mind in it. very healthy recipes and indian currys without fat or some splash of oil spray.
    have a look on that it is really nice. and you know what i just recall your recipes and plans when i heard the :)
    wish me luck i am too young 26 years old with 2 small kids to having all this pressure on me.
    ALLAH help me please.

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  2. Oh wow, this is so insightful. Everything you said makes sense. Especially the cup of commitment...that's my favourite there, for obvious reasons :)

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  3. Dear Tas,

    Lots of love to you. Look at the bright side, you have age by your side. You are young and so you can give your very best to achieve your goal.

    This slimming world thing sounds interesting. If you have joint problems just start by modifying your diet. Also talk to your doctor about taking up walking for 30 minutes. A 30 minutes walk with low cal diet plan will definitely give you great results.

    Relax, enjoy your motherhood and have firm belief in yourself that you will loose weight. Don't try to rush, take one step at a time and monitor your progress.

    My best wishes and blessings are with you.

    Lots and lots of love to you my dear friend.

    regards

    Shiva

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  4. Dear Girl,

    I follow your blog regularly and I do find you committed :).

    Thanks for stopping by.

    Lots of love

    Shiva

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  5. Hi Siva, I have been following your blog but never really commented. But u are a great inspiration. I too started on the weight loss journey with full zeal and motivation, but now after 4-5 months, I am loosing that motivation, as the results are slower than I expected. However your todays post was something that I badly needed to read. Maintaing consistency is the major issue with me. Am hoping to get back on track now after a month of playing the fool. Wish me luck and do come visit me at http://www.newnimprovedme.blogspot.in

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  6. SOo true. Every word is pearl of wisdom that has obviously come from hard work.

    I agree with everything you say. Do blog more often!

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  7. Dear Prachi,

    Thanks for liking the blog post. Weight loss will be slow so don't feel demotivated. The trick is not to give up even when the results are not as expected.

    You have a lovely blog, its nice to read about other's regular update about their weight loss.

    All the very best dear friend.

    Lots of love

    regards

    Shiva

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  8. Dear Sugar,

    Thanks for visiting the blog :).

    I try to update the blog once a week but then I get laze :(. Will definitely try to be more regular now.

    Lots of love

    regards

    Shiva

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  9. Hey Shiva, I wrote a pagelength comment, dont' know where it has gone. anyways once again, write more and inspire more , you are a true motivator and there are so many of us who look forward to it.. lots and lots of love

    take care and warm regards
    Rekha

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  10. Dear Soul Speak,

    Awww, I would have loved to read that pagelength comment. But even a small feedback from readers is always a great high for the writer. Thanks a ton for commenting on the post and making my day with your lovely words.

    When I started this blog I never thought any one would read it. All that kept me going was that even if I inspire one person to loose weight I will be happy. And here I am.

    Lots of love to you darling.

    regards

    Shiva

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  11. Hey Shiva,

    Always good to see a new post from you. It never fails to motivate me. Rather i had been missing it for some time now.

    Its now been 4 weeks since I started a healthier lifestyle (prefer calling it a lifestyle rather than a diet, diet seems so very temporary)and so far have been able to lose 4.4 kilos. Still a long way to go before I reach my goal weight. But your blogs do keep me going.

    lots of love

    vani

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  12. Dear Vani,

    Thanks for liking the blog post.

    Wow 4 kilos in 4 weeks thats a great progress. Good show my girl, keep it up.

    Lots of love to you.

    regards

    Shiva

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  13. Hi Siva,

    You have been a great writer also a great Motivater.. :) I have read all ur posts n also have got a lot motivation... :) when ever i feel depressed in my weightloss journey i just go through ur posts n also as u mentioned abt making note of what u eat i do that too when ever i see that i feel enthu n concentrae on my diet n excerises... This is indeed a awesome post.. :)
    Also i have recomnded many of my frnds to go thru ur blog for inspiration n tips.. :)

    Thank u for writing such a nice blog :)

    Regards,
    Rajani

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  14. Dear Ragini,

    Thanks a ton for such beautiful appreciation. You made my day. Weight is the game of mind, if we stay motivated enough we surely do hit the goal.

    I am very happy to know that my blog gives you the necessary motivation dosage.

    Lots of love to you and all the very best for your weight loss.

    Love

    Shiva

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  15. Shiva,I am motivated ,again!After failing innumerable times,i have picked up my battle again..hope this is the last time! Love you! keep writing,its great! And those pictures of yours are awesome...shehnaz

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  16. Dear Shenaz,

    A real winner is not only someone who wins but also someone WHO never give up trying. I had failed numerous times too and I still fail. In our failures lie the secret of our success.

    All the best for your weight loss journey.

    Thanks for liking my pics.

    Lots of love

    Shiva

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  17. Dear Nelson,

    Thanks a ton for liking my blog. I hope you visit it more often.

    Have a great day ahead.

    regards

    Shiva

    ReplyDelete

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