How I lost 15kgs without going to the Gym or changing my diet.

In March of 2020, the world came to a complete halt when we were hit by the coronavirus pandemic. We were forced to stay restricted between the four walls of our house and all the activities that we used to do daily started happening online.

Amidst this, I quickly realized that I have started gaining weight. I was always a healthy child but I started noticing bulges on the sides of my stomach and my face started looking plump. I knew I wanted to do something about it but like everyone else, I didn't know where to start. I spent around two weeks trying to follow various YouTubers and do what they were doing. However, that ended up in vain. As much as I wanted to, I was no match to these mystical creatures who were filled with energy and never got tired. I used to start drowning in my sweat after going 10 minutes into it. But for them? They had the same smile till the end of the hour. I started feeling bad about myself. Even when some of my gym-going friends suggested to me a few home exercises, I couldn’t really know if I was doing them right. That made me have backaches and further reduced my motivation. Lack of routine also made it tough to get up and workout each day. I ended up working out when I felt like it and not if I didn’t.

Then one day I saw the advert for an old tv show which was going to be broadcasted again. Now I loved this show. So I decided to workout while watching the show. I found an app that would let me track my calorie intake and the calories burned during the day. I made my goal that the number of calories consumed in a day should not exceed the number of calories burned by more than 50%. The same app had a few exercise routines as well. I decided to do one each day. When I started doing those routines I realized how important it was to take breaks between different exercises. I got to know that I was going from one exercise to another in a hurry to catch up with the YouTubers while not giving my muscles enough time to recover. The routines in the app were really good. They had a countdown for repetitions, a 15 to 30 seconds break between each workout, and most importantly pre-recorded videos of trainers who did the exact same repetitions and took the exact same amount of breaks.

Since I had a fixed time allotted to workout, I never missed it. Whenever I felt lazy and just sat on my couch watching tv I felt guilty. Hence I kept doing those small 30 minutes routines and even though they were not too exhausting, they were the start to my journey. After about a month or so I came across a video in which a girl was doing Surya Namaskar. I always thought I wasn't flexible. So I googled how many calories did Surya Namaskar burn. And to my utter shock, it burns a lot. I took this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. So from the next day, I started doing 24 Surya Namaskars daily. It was very difficult at first. My body felt stiff as a board. I could not touch the floor without bending my knees. But gradually, as time passed I started getting better at it. I also started increasing the number of repetitions each week by 5 or 7. So when I reached a point when I could do 60 Surya namaskars in every session, it felt great. My flexibility improved as well. I can now touch the floor with my palm without bending my knees although it still hurts like hell :)

My first victory came when I checked my weight 3 months later. I had lost 3 kgs. I was so happy with the results. But at this point, I realized that I need to step it up. So I started looking for making improvements in my diet(pshh I know I said without changing my diet but hey just stay with me you’ll understand). I knew I could not completely change my diet and switch to salads and fruits. I knew that if I did that, I will quickly start having cheat meals and end up doing the exact opposite of my purpose. So I started controlling my portions. I had one roti, with one small bowl of rice, and one bowl of dal and veggies. It is what I used to have before. SO, my body did not mind getting a little less. I did not make a drastic change and hence, it worked out. At dinner too, I used to have what everyone else had. But just a little less in quantity. You see the body knows when you try to cut things off. But it doesn’t notice when you eat exactly what you used to and gradually keep reducing the portions. I had this habit of eating whenever I was bored. I used to eat chips, have cookies, and any other unhealthy food you name it. I stopped myself from doing that. Getting rid of this habit was more difficult than having to force myself to exercise daily. But once I did this I could actually see that my progress sped up.

Okay, now I’ll be getting to the best one. Since I was eating well and exercising twice a day, I thought of trying out something new. So I started surfing the web and came across Leslie Sansone’s channel. And boy do I thank the lucky stars I did. She basically created a Walk At Home program that you just had to follow through and that’s it. I started with her 15 minutes walk and then gradually over the months went to the 30 minutes and 45 minutes one. The thing about this program was that it did not feel so much like exercise as it did walking around with a few friends. At this point, I stopped doing the exercises from the app. I did not want to exert myself and I knew I was doing enough. So in the last leg of my journey, I did 35 Surya Namaskars in the morning and 30–45 minutes of Walk at home.

It took me seven months to go from 65kgs to 50kgs. I never thought I could do it cause trust me I am the laziest person on the face of the earth. But the thing is after a point exercising daily and taking care of your body becomes a habit. And if you don’t do it you start feeling incomplete. I am not saying that it is easy but it is definitely doable. Imagining what you want your body to look like and working towards seeing that exact thing in the mirror will get you through. All the best!