Gym jam

I have always been a perfectionist, trying to master whatever I do. Sometimes, I get so lost that my quest turns into an obsession. And soon it starts having negative impacts on my life. The most recent victim of my chagrin is gym. 

Since I started working out, I have lost almost 10 kgs and I feel awesome! I have to catch myself from floating off the ground when people compliment me. That’s figurative BTW. I haven’t lost so much to fly off the ground :P Having spent most of my childhood as a chubby kid, I felt insanely happy when I was commended on my weight loss. Every compliment fueled me further and I grew hungry for more. I was so hung up on reaching my ideal weight that I reduced my food intake and killed myself in the gym. Being a foodie made things worse. I started loathing thin people with unbelievable metabolism. They ate twice as much as me and still managed to stay the same. Naturally, I would get frustrated and depressed. I started hating gym because the scales were not moving in my favor. 

I started seeing gym as a monster which did not let me eat what I want and do what I want. It ate two hours of my day and gave me nothing in return. I was furious that I had to sweat it out every day while others were born slim and did not have to go through this torture. My mom and friends are my biggest support. They encouraged me not to give up. But no matter what, my weight stubbornly refused to drop lower. I continued gym on their persuasion but I had lost my enthusiasm. I went there grudgingly without any hope of improvement. Slowly but steadily my resentment kept consuming me until I became very bitter. That’s when I decided to take a break from gym. 

Initially I appreciated the extra hours it gave me during the day. I relaxed and spent more time reading and indulging in hobbies. It seemed like I was on equal footing with the others. I felt cheerful again :) As I calmed down, I sensed something else in me. Separation pangs I realized. I missed gym!! Can you believe it? :D Still, I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to join back. The turning point was when I read a quote from Milind Soman, the actor who recently completed the toughest triathlon at the age of 50 and is now known as IronMan. He said 

“Fitness to me is freedom. People think fitness means not eating this and doing things you don’t like. To me, fitness is liberating.” 

“Endurance sport teaches us one thing – that if you work at something you love, patiently, consistently and with focus, not only will you get where you want to get, but every moment you will be where you want to be.” 

I realized it’s true. Working out had helped me in innumerable ways. I became more confident and comfortable in my skin. I gained stamina and resistance. I looked better and healthier. Most importantly, I had shut up all those people who constantly used to rib me about my weight. Milind is right. Fitness gives us the freedom to eat what we want because we know we will be burning it out at the end of the day. It gives us the freedom to wear what we like without having to worry about hiding flab. When we exercise consistently, we are actually moving towards success. And every moment, we are one step closer. How had I been so dumb to ignore all these positive aspects of working out!  So I decided to hit back to gym albeit without a vengeance :P 

Now that I had decided to return, I wanted to understand my problem and so I did a bit of research. Here is what I found. This piece is from a weight loss point of view. Apparently, the way it works is when we start out, the body weight increases in the initial few weeks. This is where our body is building up muscles initially. If we continue working consistently, our body will get into the weight loss mode. If we stick to the diet and work out plan, the decline may be faster. Eventually it may so happen that our body may get used to our training program and calorie intake. The number of calories gained becomes equal to the number of calories burnt, thus hitting a plateau, where in our body weight remains constant. So what is the solution? The top three things I found on the net are:

1. Make sure the number of calories consumed is less than the number of calories burnt. That doesn’t mean eat less food. It means break up your meals to include more fiber and protein and less carbohydrates. 

2. Progressively take your work out session to the next level. Increase the intensity or the number of sets in each type of exercise. 

3. Increase the water intake. Strange as it may seem, the more water you drink the less water the body will retain. Thus flushing out toxins and fat and helping weight loss. 

Despite all this research, I have come up with my own rules (I was never good at taking advice :P). After all, we know our body the best right? Recently my work place moved further from my home and the travel exhausts me. This must be the reason why I tire out quickly in the gym these days. So, I am going to shift my schedule a bit and move my weekly break from Sunday to Wednesday. I always work out more during the weekend. This way I will have a break mid-week which will give me time to recharge. Also, I will not monitor my weight like a hawk. I will not imagine myself constantly running towards some target figure. I figured out that am marginally over-weight. Someone even called the extra weight as ‘vanity pounds’ :D I am not exercising to impress anybody, so why the pressure? I will take it easy and enjoy the process instead of mulling over numbers. 

I hope my beloved gym will forgive me for deserting it and welcome me with open arms and never let go <3 Sigh! So romantic!