Shedding Weight After Diwali

In the aftermath of Diwali, most weight watchers are expected to see blue for some time. The scale will remain stubbornly up for a while, making you wonder whether you had behaved really as badly with your eats and exercise the last week to deserve this! And where exactly was the problem?  In what we ate or just the few days that we skipped our exercise routine?

Those who exercise vigorously, pile up kilos rapidly as soon as they stop. Look at the erstwhile sportsmen and dancers. Diego Maradona, the soccer legend from Argentina, became morbidly obese when he stopped playing. His condition was so desperate that he had to undergo a weight reducing bariatric surgery to loose a few score kilos! Many of our vintage cricket heroes seem to have similar problems. Dancers of Bhartnatyam and Kathak pile up kilos when they stop their rigorous practice. Similarly, gym goers are likely to put on more weight when they stop than their “regular walker” friends. My tennis buddies at SGPGI, who play 40 minutes every morning, are not getting lean either.

There is some bad news for gym goers and sports buffs from the research world. Three recent studies have shown that as many as 30% of those who exercise regularly do not lose weight. In fact a few acually gain some, raising concerns about our modern obsession of working out in gyms and taking to vigorous sports as part of our present day lifestyles.

While  exercise workouts is believed to help redistribute body weight, converting  fat into s muscles, the fat percentage in the body also seems to remain unchanged in many. The reason: increased calorie consumption resulting from enhanced appetite caused by the exercise itself. Many “reward” themselves with fatty food after their workouts.

Further, the calories that we burn by exercise are relatively small compared with what our desi mithais and snacks contain. The caloric content of some of the food that we would have eaten recently are high; a glass of soft drink (100 kcals), a sweet (100-300 kcal/piece), dry fruits (300 kcal for a handfull), a samosa or kachori (150 -300 kcal/ piece). If you have snacked through the day visting friends, you might have consumed an extra 1000 to 3000 kcals a day during this phase.

Burning them is not going to be easy. To lose 300 kcals, we have to jog 30 minutes, or cycle for 70 minutes or lift weights for an hour. My tennis buddies and I will have to play an extra set daily for 4 weeks to lose what we have recently gained.

Diet therefore holds the key to losing weight.  Try large bowls of clear soups and salads before meals, suhki roti and boiled veggies, 8-10 glasses of water a day. Stop eating when you are half full and still hungry. And get rid of all the sweets, snacks and pastries from your home.  You might then regain your shape in the next few weeks. Good luck!

As published in HT City ( Hindustan Times) dated 18 october , 2009.