A Weighty Issue | Sustaining (-1) kg a Week
By: Aparna Ponnappa
Tags: Habit Building, Weight Loss Tips, Weight Loss, Habits, Healthy Lifestyle

All through my late teens and well into adulthood I have been different kinds of overweight. With a height of 5 ft nothing more and nothing less — and the all time high of 96 kgs I have usually hovered around 70 kgs. The least I have ever been was 58 kgs.

Today I am finally on a path to sustainable weight management and I am really strutting my stuff. I had a wake-up call a few weeks after my 44th Birthday when my weight started spiralling upwards and out of control. This is not a new phenomenon, as much as a annual pattern — from July till February are my gain-filled days, while there is a marginal loss through summer.

Sustainable weight management is more about the mind and who we are rather than what we do

So what was different this time? This year I embarked on a journey of self growth and development by investing in improving my expertise as a Coach. Following the ICF (https://coachingfederation.org/) framework, my learning journey with Coacharya (https://coacharya.com/) facilitators Priya Ramesh and Ramesh Sreedharan have been excellent, and even more enriching thanks to the peer group that was part of my study circle for many months.

One of the key insights I worked with that weight management is less about tools and techniques and more about intentionality, purpose and importance. I a nut shell it is not the ‘what’ we do but the ‘who’ we are. And really the only route to long-term success can be address the ‘who’.

So I partnered with coaches to answer 4 fundamental questions?

What did I want to achieve for myself — the goal? What was the importance of this goal for me? How would I know I was achieving my goal? What needed to happen for me to achieve my goal?

A couple of coaching sessions and insights from a book later I had my complete plan. Don’t get me wrong — the first conversation itself put me on the path to progress. But now I genuinely feel I have mastered my own skills in staying on track.

The insights from the book:

Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg (https://tinyhabits.com/)

The MAP Model — anchoring the Motivation, Ability and Prompt to create a sustainable behaviour change that drives success.

So here is a list of everything I do, every day. These 12 things got added over a period of time — not overnight.

DISCLAIMER: This helps me, fully customised to my needs, my likes and ability to sustain my private journey. This will not help you — it is not indicative of what you need to do — it is just to satisfy that curious question that I get from everyone — So tell us exactly what you do?

I workout every day — averaging 10,000 steps — the additional motivation — I watch all my TV programs of choice (usually Perry Mason and Agatha Christie before 8 am in the day). Started this from the beginning as it combined my two loves walking and mysteries. I do wall push-ups now up to a 100 a day — I started with 1 as Dr. Fogg recommends in his book. Started this after I read the book Tiny Habits — somewhere 2 weeks into my journey. I do not bring up my food — having been severely bulimic this has been a daily addiction that played havoc with my mind and soul — I really had to work on this one…it is a daily practice of gratitude and self love that keeps me on the path. This has been a daily struggle — I need to watch myself every day. I eat my food between 10 am and 6 pm. Started one week in. I eat what I love and like and have cut out any food that does not give my joy. From the beginning. I drink a glass of red wine — one glass, every night. This keeps me from binging, craving, thinking about alcohol which I enjoy. Started this a week back which roughly is 5 weeks in. I do something called oil-pulling every morning before I brush my teeth. From the beginning — picked up this habit from my Breathwork Coach Anu Lall last year. https://breathworkout.app/ And I weigh myself only once a day. This was a big struggle for me — working from home it was easy to get into the trap of weighing myself every time I ate or went to the loo — it was a disgusting habit which I am now rid off! Started this from the start. Journaling and tracking — luckily a lot of devices that I use track data for me — Fastrack Reflex www.fastrack.in that helps me track my steps and a PowerMax Fitness Bluetooth Body Fat Scale https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07D33KQMZ/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_api_glt_fabc_GE42VH1V19KEN2MEGHZF. From the start. Gratitude. Has been a practice since forever (started in 2012) 3–4 litres of water a day. 3 weeks in A teaspoon of Psyllium Husk and a half teaspoon of Bruhath Triphala Chooranam in a big glass of water (http://dl.flipkart.com/dl/sat-isabgol-best-quality-psyllum-husk/p/itm13db15859f4ef?pid=VSLG49GEBXUAJGHM&cmpid=product.share.pp) and (http://dl.flipkart.com/dl/vaidyaratnam-bruhath-thriphala-choornam-200/p/itm3209896784a8d?pid=AYDG6JKPUQPBBFPN&cmpid=product.share.pp) 4–5 weeks in.

This journey has been 6+ weeks long and I have now gained (- 6.9) kgs of joy and happiness.