Pooja Makhija - Eat Delete

This book is dedicated to all those who have regained their excess weight as fast as they lost it. Who somehow think weight loss is tied to a wedding, a reunion, a hot date or a calendar. Who think stringent timelines are motivating. Who make food the enemy. Who are so worried and anxious about the results, they forget how special, unique and wonderful they are.

To them I say: Whats Your Rush?

Contents

Runners pounded the road in the cool light of a January morning. The end was almost in sight. A sea of people cheered the motley crew of athletes who had come together to run the annual Mumbai Marathon. Doctors, lawyers, CEOs, a former beauty queen, housewives and students had all come to take part in what would become one of the biggest physical tests of their lives.

For many, this was the end of a journey that had started months or years before the day of the race. Some had come from small towns with limited facilities for training. Some had battled illnesses. Whatever motivated them whether it was the joy of pushing their body to the limit or the satisfaction of achieving a lifelong goal they all had one thing in common. They werent looking back to see who was behind them. They werent looking ahead to see who was ahead of them. They simply looked up. But not at the clock with its red, ticking numbers. As they crossed the finish line that threshold between failure and success they focused on six big letters.

F-I-N-I-S-H

They did it. They had finished.

That was their victory.

As children, we were taught that races are there to be won. Its all about coming first because there is no place for second place. We were never taught that finishing, or just sticking to the plan, is a reward in itself.

Long-lasting weight loss is not a sprint; its not something that needs to be won. Like a marathon, it is simply a journey of endurance. The only difference is that it is a journey to a destination of your choice at a pace set by your body. Your job is just to reach the finish line.

but when time
wins, our
bodies often lose

I wrote this book because I am deeply concerned about the way people pit time against their bodies. We are in such a rush to look good for our wedding, a reunion, a conference or an event that we crash-diet and stress ourselves out, only to eventually put the weight back on again. We push our bodies to their limit because time is suddenly more important than our digestive systems, hearts, brains, circulation, breathing and energy levels. But when time wins, our bodies often lose.

Why do we make weight loss a race against time? Where are we going that were in such a rush? Or is it a question of trust? Do we put such high expectations on our bodies because were control freaks? Do we control our bodies from the outside because we do not trust our bodies to do the right thing on the inside?

This book is The Anti-quick Fix Approach because years of solid research and, more importantly, your body, will tell you that there is no such thing as a shortcut to stable weight loss. If you want to increase your metabolism, if you want health and wellness, if you want your energy back, if you want to keep the weight off for good or if you simply want your body to respond with thanks and appreciation, there are few choice routes from the starting gun to the finish line and everyone has to take the same path. However, Im not saying it will take you forever to lose the weight. While this is the Anti-quick Fix, I will still provide you with ways to fix your weight problem within a medically recommended timeframe.

What I dont want is for you to make weight loss this complicated, long-winded journey where food and common sense becomes your enemy. In this book, I will show you how to provide your body with enough fuel to cross the finish line, and share tips and strategies that will allow you to lose and keep the weight off. What I do want is for you to have fun and enjoy the process. You will be surprised at how much you can eat. You will be surprised at how much you have to eat.

But right now, at the start of your own personal journey, as you turn the pages of this book, I want you to slow down and start to appreciate yourself. Dont curse the thighs you got from your mother, or blame your father for your tendency to put on weight. Dont examine every pore thats too big or breasts that are too small. Youre uniquely you. And youre uniquely beautiful.

We have enough expectations to live up to. From husbands or wives, from our friends, from our work, from our children, from our parents, from our in-laws, from life. Take the stress out of weight loss and breathe, get on with your life, love yourself. Your body is your friend. It will get you your weight loss. It will do whats best for you. And the sooner you realize that, the happier and lighter you will be.

The Quick Fix

You have six weeks to lose those 8 kilos. And your Time. Starts. Now.

Were not the only ones putting pressure on ourselves. This is how weight loss is being marketed. Everything is sold in time-bound packages. There are monthly packages, weekly packages, yearly packages in which you can lose 5 kilos in a month or 10 kilos in two. The Quick Fix seems to be the ultimate solution for people who want to lose weight NOW, with the implied promise that if they follow the programme to the T, their lives will change forever.

Rapid weight loss...

...looks like this:

Lose 6 kilos in three weeks!

The seven-day diet

From fat to fit: eight weeks to get that bikini bod

The five-day detox

...sounds like this:

Make her lose 10 kilos fast. The boy is coming down from New York in two months.

Pooja, its a ten-year reunion and Ive had two kids since college. Help!

I cant go to Goa looking like this. Its my best friends wedding!

...and could make you feel like this:

Irritable, weak, hungry, depressed, fatigued,
faint, constipated, deprived, dehydrated

And all of it is usually for nothing. In the case of rapid weight loss, what goes down will come up. When you crash-diet, or even when you have unrealistic expectations of what your body can do, you could ultimately end up with these:

Reduced sex drive, sinus problems, hair loss,
muscle atrophy, seizures, acne, gallbladder
disease, Anorexia nervosa, bulimia,
malnutrition possibly leading to death

In other words, if weight is the only thing you gain back, you can consider yourself lucky.

I dont mean to sound all gloomy, but as a nutritionist I cannot emphasize enough the perils of the Quick Fix. Even the most sensible of us have fallen prey to a shortcut or two. And its not just about the food. There are diet pills, liposuction, creams, massages, drinks, fat burners, EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation) machines, appetite suppressants, the list is endless. But where there seems to be a quick, magical solution to those stubborn thighs or flabby abs, there are also inherent side effects that you are not always informed about. Sometimes hiding behind the Big Loss is the Small Print.

Some may argue that tight timelines are a big motivator, others say that a goal is the only tangible way to achieve weight loss. But what essentially happens with tough deadlines is that they are almost always accompanied by a sense of failure because we tend to focus on what we havent lost. So when we lose 5 kilos in two months, and not in one, we are disappointed because we have not lost more when, in fact, we should be delighted that we have lost 5. Thats 5 kilos less that you carry around. Thats 5 kilos less pressure on your heart. Youre breathing easier, walking faster, feeling better. Celebrate that. Weight loss is not the only way to measure the success of a lifestyle change.