Losing Weight... The Lost Battle

So you are trying to lose weight?

What did you say? You have been doing it for a very long time...

Trying or losing weight? Well, if it had been the latter then you would still not be doing the former... Stupid of me to ask.

But kudos to you and millions of others like you for your perseverance. Even after 'trying' for years (really, it could even be tens of years) people like you don't give up on trying even though you continue to lose the battle but never the weight. Billions of dollars worth of industry has sprung up all because of your die-hard determination to one day sport the six-pack abs. But it never happens. Right? Whatever you do, either the brazen bulge just refuses to budge or it keeps coming back like the dead in the zombie movies. You have tried all types of diets - GM diet, blood group diet, cabbage diet and so many others. Newspapers and Magazines are full of numerous weight loss options like liposuction, U-lipo, weight loss centres, bariatric surgery - some of which you would have already tried, a few you would be contemplating to explore while some you might be finding fearsome. Then there are these health centres / gymnasiums which have sprung up all across - standalone, in star hotels and these days even in malls. Imagine sweating it out on a treadmill while watching people voraciously pushing down double cheese pizzas with super-sized colas and you notice that these people are either totally fit or completely unfit and you wonder where do you 'fit' in?

 

What's going on here?

 

Basically when it comes to fitness, people can be categorized into three distinct (FF) types:

 

FF 1 : Fat Fanatics

People in this category:

1. Lust food - The visual of anything that can be shoved into the mouths make their hands subconsciously do so.
2. Are narcissists - Doesn't matter if they fit into a mirror from any distance or if the fat oozes out from all over their bodies, they just drool over themselves.
3. Are media isolated - This prevents them from any exposure to unsavoury awareness about ill effects of obesity.

 

FF 2 : Fortunately Fit

People in this category:

1. Eat to live - They either eat too little or you see them eating throughout. For either of the reason they don't tend to gain weight.
2. Don't care - These people give a damn to what others think about them. They do what they like to do, eat what they like to eat.
3. Have the right genes - Something that they are born with - high metabolism, perfect body composition, low fat retention.

 

And then there are the third type...

 

FF 3 : Frustrated Fighters

People in this category:

1.  Are infatuated with WEIGHT - They are so much in love with weight that the weight never ever thinks of leaving them; "need to drink so much of water else I will not lose weight"; "should not eat food after sunset else I will not lose weight"; "should get off from the left side of the bed else I will gain weight". Maybe the last one is far-fetched but you get the drift (for all you know, there are people who have even more crazy beliefs).
2. Hate food - According to these people the worst thing that has happened to mankind is food. Everything that is consumed in this world has something wrong with it; meat leads to cholesterol, wheat & rice are empty calories, street food is unhygienic. Whatever they eat, wherever they eat, a thought is always lurking in their mind, "I am sure there is something wrong with it!".
3. Keep exercising - Do you ever see "fit" people in a gym? You always find people of FF3 variety ferociously working the elliptical, huffing on a treadmill, trying hard to lift weights or cheating on the crunches. They are walking / jogging in the wee hours or facebookingly participating in marathons. Have you wondered where do the fit people actually work out?

Most probably, you are a FF3. So am I.

 

Did I say there are three types? Actually there is a fourth type as well. The type that is as rare as the pothole free road in India or the bullet that can hit the hero in the climax of a movie. This is the type that actually stays fit by taking out the positives from the three types:

 

FF 4:

(Could not think of a name as this is a rare specie. Maybe you can suggest something with a FF acronym like the previous three)

1. Eat to live - They look at food as the source of energy and always enjoy what they eat. They eat just "enough" and "right" stuff to prevent accumulation and they eat continuously to keep the metabolism going.
2. Exercise - They exercise in the right quantum as a habit and not always trying to lose weight. They don't punish themselves and keep their bodies moving at any given opportunity by doing small things at any time of the day.
3. Love themselves - They like what they see in the mirror. They keep themselves informed to adopt / avoid the right / wrong.

 

So, what type are you? Can you be a FF4?