No short cuts to slimming

(By Lisa Sarah John, Courtesy Bangalore Times, Feb 5, 2007)

There’s no short cut to losing fat. Whether it is 2-3 kgs or 20-30 kgs, the method is the same. There are many ways — machines, pills, powders, weight loss centres, hospitals — and they all can give you amazing results in amazing time spans. But there is only one correct, healthy way to remove fat from your body. You simply have to stop eating fatty food. You have to say no to all deep-fried food, all nuts, cookies cakes and sweets.
When you eat your meals every day and exercise regularly, you burn calories and the fat stored in your body reduces. But by the evening or night if you indulge in any of the above fatty foods, you immediately redeposit fat that you reduced during the day. Some people are committed to walking or gym workouts and eat healthy, balanced meals, but end up eating an evening snack of a bowl of nuts, chaat, a puff or pastry; that negates all the good work.
Another group diets or fasts through the week, but indulges in fatty foods over the weekend. Their argument is that since they have been good all week, one indulgence should not matter. With this sort of lifestyle you may be able to maintain your weight, but you will definitely not be able to lose it.
If you want to cut down the fat in your body, you have to be able to cut out fatty food from your diet. Yes, it means giving up everything that tastes good. The good news is that you don’t have to give up the goodies forever. Fat reduction is not a game or fun; it is a serious treatment and all treatments are painful and inconvenient.
But this is not a lifetime treatment. You have to give up all the goodies for a short period of time: one month to lose 2-3kgs; three months to lose 8-10 kgs; and 10 months or a year to lose 20-30 kgs. The attitude or mindset must be “What is one month or three months or a year to change my health, life and happiness?”

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