Like many other people I also face the problem of excess weight. I have been underweight during my teenage and have had ideal weight in my twenties and thirties. But it’s a completely different story after forty. Since the last few years I have been accumulating excess fat slowly and gradually. In June 2010, I was 10 kg overweight. I desired to shed the excess weight but it has been not so easy. I tried almost everything but nothing seemed to work. For the last four months I have stopped taking artificial sugar and dropped four kilos. A small success but I have a long way to go.
While going through the fitness and weight loss books I realized one thing very clearly that being slim and being fit are two totally different things. We tend to gain weight around middle age because our metabolic rate goes down and we follow an unhealthy lifestyle. In India, we emphasize a lot on the concept of fat and slim. But all the slim people are not fit and all the overweight people are not necessarily unfit. We tend to put on weight due to our unhealthy life style and most of the weight loss techniques fail until and unless we bring a permanent change in our entire life style i.e. diet and exercise routine.
According to my experiences, we should not starve ourselves to lose weight; rather our focus should be on attaining a certain level of fitness. If we focus on improving our fitness levels, the excess fat will go in due course of time.
Fitness has physical, mental and emotional aspects that include
- Flexibility
- Stamina
- Strength
- High energy levels
- Resistance to injuries
- Dealing with aches and pains
- Stress management
- Sound sleep
As we progress to become fit, the sense of lack is replaced with a sense of fulfillment. We can become fit through discipline, determination and following a healthy routine for our body and mind to bring out their best. There are many ways to become fit, Yoga being the best of them.
This realization takes me back to my slim days; I have always been unfit with low energy levels. Weight gain itself is not the problem but the indicator to the fact that we are not using and treating our bodies the way they are meant to be. Weight gain is a symptom just like fever and pain that our bodies are crying for attention. My undue weight gain has awakened me to the need to be fit and as a result improve all aspects of my life.
-Alka Sharma
