[graaja]

Fat to Fit - A Journal of My Fitness Journey

From a 90+ kilo foodie, blissfully ignorant of the concept of Health and Fitness 10 years back to a 68 kilo decently fit person now, my health and fitness journey has been filled with ups and downs and mistakes and learnings.

The purpose of this thread is to share the story of my journey so far, the concepts I learnt on the way and also as a journal to record my future fitness goals and milestones.

I shall update the below index as I keep adding important posts to the thread.

Index:

Fat to Fit - My Health and Fitness Journey

Intermittent fasting 101

LCHF and Keto 101 – A Beginners Guide to Low Carb Eating, Part – 1

LCHF and Keto 101 – A Beginners Guide to Low Carb Eating, Part – 2

Reversing Diabetes with Intermittent Fasting and Low Carb Diet

A doctor's take on the connection between acidity and IF

Restarting runs, first flying push-up and assisted hand stand

[graaja]

A summary of learnings from the past 10 years:

1. Health and Fitness is a journey, not a goal. It is a journey that continues till the last breath.
2. Dietary fat does not make you fat. Carbs do.
3. Weight loss is 90% diet, 10% workouts
4. Calorie In, Calore Out method does not always work
5. Being fit does not mean you are healthy
6. Intermittent fasting combined with moderate/low carb is the most sustainable way to stay lean and healthy

My heartfelt thanks to:

1. My wife who not only supported me but also joined me in all my diet experiments
2. Adhitya Muthuswamy whose reference to the book “Why we get fat” was a turning point in my life.
3. Manoj Vijayakumar who inspired me to take up Paleo and then Intermittent Fasting
4. Deepak Samual, who has been an inspiration and guidance in my cycling activities
5. My Triathlon buddies Chakkravarthy Birur, Dr. Gautham, Suresh, Dr. Rajkumar, Ashwin Balasubramaniam, Saravanan Manickam, Arun Rajendran and Balachander who have inspired and motivated me in my Triathlon pursuits.
6. My close friend and training buddy Shemmozhi Pandian

Prologue:

Ten years back, I was a foodie weighing 90+ kilos, married to my job, blissfully ignorant of the concept of health and fitness. I couldn’t run a kilometer to save myself. I loved sugary stuff and junk food. This was me 10 years back.



Then some time in 2012, I started getting occasional chest pains (turned out to be just gas pains) which was my wakeup call. With news about people in 30’s dying of heart attacks, I used to spend sleepless nights worrying about my family and what they would do if I weren't there for them. Then one fine day I decided this is not the way to live and I need to get fit and healthy for myself and my family. And thus began my fitness journey.

Like any journey, my fitness journey the past 10 years had several ups and downs. I made mistakes, learnt from these mistakes, learnt new concepts on the way, and still learning every day.

Phase – 1, 2012 to 2013 Calorie Counting, Low Fat, Insanity and P90x

I came across some online ads on a couple of fitness programs called “Insanity” by coach Shaun T and “P90x” by coach Tony Horton. Decided to start my weight loss journey with these programs. Insanity was an 8 week program and P90x a 12 week program. The programs also provided nutrition advice with target calories, calorie deficit, and general diet guidelines. The high level guideline was avoid sugar, keep fat low and maintain a calorie deficit of 500 calories a day. I got a Polar heart rate monitor to accurately track my workouts and calories expended, logged my food consumption in MyFitnessPal and strictly followed the workout schedules and nutrition. This was the result I achieved from this phase.



Then by end of 2013, I was stuck by a double tragedy (lost both my parents within a span of 6 months) in the family, went into depression, and by early 2014, gained back all the lost weight.

Phase – 2, 2014 to early 2016, Cycling Running and Triathlons

By end of 2014, I decided to get back to weight loss journey and took up cycling. In two years, I did more than 6000 kilometers of cycling which included regular 100 kilometer rides and a couple of 200 kilometer brevets.

By 2016, I had added running and swimming to my fitness activities and had started participating in half marathons and amateur triathlon events. Finished my first half marathon in October 2015 and my first sprint distance triathlon (750 meters swim, 20km bike, 5km run) at Thonnur in September 2016.

During this time, I was not paying any attention to my diet. I was under the impression that with so much of physical activity, my weight would reduce.
But even with all this activities, my weight remained in the high 80’s. A few pictures from this phase in my life. I would say I was Fit, but Fat.





This was a very important lesson to me.

Weight loss is 90% diet and 10% physical activity. Physical activity is not the key to weight loss. How much ever physical activity you do, if you do not take care of diet, weight loss will not happen.


Important Note: The concept of physical activity to reduce weight may work in your 20's or even early 30's. But once you hit your 40's and develop insulin resistance (more on this in a later post), diet is the only way to weight loss. Physical activity only helps in fitness.

[graaja]

Phase – 3, Late 2016 to 2018, Low Carb and Triathlons

In the second half of 2016, I got an introduction to the Low Carb dieting concept. Adhitya Muthuswamy, a friend from the cycling group had shared about a book called “Why We Get Fat” by author Gary Taubes. This book was a turning point in my life. That book opened my eyes to concepts like insulin resistance, how carbs get stored as fat, how exercising does not result in burning fat especially once you develop insulin resistance. At that time I also happened to see an FB group on Paleo diet started by Neander Selvan and also learn about this from another friend Manoj Vijayakumar from Thirupur who was actively practicing low carb diet. So, I switched to Paleo diet and totally cut all sugars and grains (rice and wheat) from my diet.

I was also training for my Olympic distance triathlon. With the low carb diet and the high level of fitness activities, my weight reduced from 86 kilos to 76 kilos. Below is a picture of me at the end of the Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40k bike, 10k run) in Goa.



Phase – 4, Late 2018 to Early 2019, Half Ironman and back to carbs

In the 2nd half of 2018, I started my training for the Half Ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21km run). I trained under coach Kaustubh Radkar who is the only Indian to have completed 25 Full Ironman Events. The training was very hard and a typical training week used to have 6km of swim, 150km of cycling and 30km of running. With this high training load came the race nutrition of using sugary gels and sports drinks and carb loaded meals. So even with that high training load, my weight increased from 75 kilos to 80 kilos. This was another phase where I learnt the hard way that high level of physical activity does not guarantee weight loss. Below is the picture of me after finishing the Half Ironman event, weighing in at 80 kilos. Again "Fit but Fat"



I have documented my Goa triathlon experience in the below TBHP thread.

Fitness Vacation to Goa – A road trip, a triathlon and rendezvous with jelly fish (Fitness Vacation to Goa – A road trip, a triathlon and rendezvous with jelly fish)

Phase – 5, 2019 to 2020, Intermittent Fasting, Keto, Strength Training

In mid 2018, I came across another important concept called Intermittent Fasting or IF. In this method, you reduce the eating window to 8 hours, or 6 hours or 4 hours or even one hour in a day. This has many advantages. Due to the extended fasting hours, the time our body stays free of insulin increases and this aids fat burn. Fasting also triggers a process called autophagy where our body recycles dead cells which makes one look and feel younger. I could not try this method during my training for the Half Ironman event. But immediately after the Half Ironman event, I started practicing IF and also continued to train. This was the time I also read many books about using fat as fuel for endurance athletes. My goal was to be able to complete my next Half Ironman event without relying on carbs and gels.

But then in the mid 2019, I got a heel injury due to which I had to suspend all Triathlon training. I am yet to get back to Triathlon training. My life time goal is to complete a Full Ironman event (4km swim, 180km bike, 42km run). I will definitely get back to training once I fully recover from my injury.

I decided to use this down time wisely. Along with IF, I also did 4 months of strict Keto, where I restricted carbs to less than 50 grams a day. By February 2020, my weight was down from 80 kilos to 68 kilos. After this 4 months of strict keto, I switched to a moderate carb diet where I included very small portions of millets and continued with IF as a lifestyle. I made 16:8 IF as standard, with a couple of days of 20+ hours of fasting in a week. Also, once a month, I did extended fasting like 36, 48 or 72 hours.

As I had stopped Triathlon training, I started incorporating strength training into my schedule. As I write this post, I have made significant progress in strength as well (I am now able to do 7 unassisted pull-ups in a stretch) and my weight is stable around 69 to 70 kilos.

Below is a picture of me during the recent drive to Shimoga, documented in this thread (Holiges, a Coracle and a Banyan Tree - Weekend Drive to Shimoga). This is something I could not have even dreamed of doing a few years back.



Conclusion:

To conclude the story of my fitness journey of the past 10 years, below are a few compare pictures from 10 years back to now.






In further posts, I will share my learnings on various concepts I have applied in my journey - the first to follow is about Intermittent Fasting.

[graaja]

Intermittent Fasting 101

When we think of diet (low fat, low carb, keto, Atkinson’s and so on), it is always about what food to eat and what food to avoid.

Intermittent fasting is not a diet, but an eating pattern. It tells you when to eat and when not to. Two major benefits of intermittent fasting are autophagy and weight loss.

I have been using intermittent fasting as a lifestyle the past two years. Intermittent fasting is one of the important tools that helped me in my fitness journey from a 90+ kilo fat to 68 kilo fit person.

Many of my friends have used intermittent fasting as a lifestyle in healthy weight loss and 4 of them have reversed diabetes. I will write about reversing diabetes using IF in a future post.

In this post, I will discuss about intermittent fasting basics, how it works, the types of intermittent fasting and some common doubts on intermittent fasting.

Intermittent fasting is also called “IF” in short. I will be using both these terms in this post.

Insulin:

Before we get into the details of IF, let us look at an important hormone, Insulin which is secreted by the pancreas. We all know about its role in regulating glucose levels in the blood. Insulin signals the cells to use glucose circulating in the blood as source of energy. Insulin is also a storage hormone. It signals fat cells to convert glucose circulating in blood into fat and store it for later use.

In the presence of insulin, body does not burn fat. But burning fat is the key to weight loss. To make the body burn fat, we need to achieve zero insulin levels for extended periods of time. Low carb diets like Paleo, Keto and Atkinsons achieve this by limiting carbs which in turn reduces blood glucose levels which in turn keeps insulin levels very low, thus enabling the body to burn the stored fat for fuel. Workouts can achieve this by burning glucose for energy and bringing down insulin levels.

Intermittent fasting achieves this by extending the fasting period (when you do not eat any food).

How Intermittent Fasting Works:

It takes about 12 hours after a carb loaded meal for insulin levels to reach zero (with low carb meals, this happens much sooner). Fat burn can occur only after these 12 hours. But in today’s lifestyle of abundance of food, we start eating right from the time we get out of bed and all the day till we go to bed – coffee, breakfast, pre-lunch snack, lunch, post lunch snack with coffee and dinner. We usually get only 8 to 10 hours of time window when we are not eating. Because of this we never allow insulin levels to reach zero.

In intermittent fasting we extend this “not eating” time window beyond 12 hours so that body can start burning fat for fuel after insulin levels become zero.

Types of Intermittent Fasting:

There are two windows in intermittent fasting – eating window and fasting window. Eating window is when you have your meals and fasting window is when you do not eat anything. Depending on the duration of fasting and eating windows, following are some of the famous IF protocols.

16:8 – 16 hours of fasting window and 8 hours of eating window
18:6 – 18 hours of fasting window and 6 hours of eating window
20:4 – 20 hours of fasting window and 4 hours of eating window
OMAD (One Meal A Day) – In this method you fast for 23 hours and eat a single meal within a time window of an hour.

How to Start:

There are two ways to start intermittent fasting.

In the first method, you start with a 13-hour fasting window. Have an early dinner by 7pm and have your first meal of the day at 8am. Eat nothing between 7pm and 8am. Do this for a few days and then increase the window to 14 hours pushing your first meal to 9am. Keep increasing it till you get to the 16-hour window.

In the second method, you start with a 16-hour window from day 1. Have your last meal of the day at say 8pm and the first meal of the day at 12 noon the next day. This method gets you into IF faster and you will start seeing results sooner. I used this method when I started my IF lifestyle. You may experience symptoms like severe hunger pangs or mild headaches in this method. This is your body resisting the switch over to burning fat as fuel. But this lasts only for two to three days. Once you tell your body you are not giving it any food, the body automatically starts breaking up the stored fat for energy. And when this happens you will start feeling much more energetic in fasted state than you were when you had your early meal.

Autophagy:

The most important benefit of IF is autophagy. I consider this as the main advantage with weight loss as the beneficial side effect.
In 2016, the Nobel Prize for Physiology was awarded to Dr. Yoshinori Ohsumi for his research on autophagy.

“Auto” means self and “Phagy” means eating. Autophagy literally means self-eating – in a good way. We know cells keep dividing in our body and new cells are created from this division. After several divisions, cells become dysfunctional and cannot be used for further division. Autophagy is body’s way of cleaning up these damaged cells and recycling them for energy – or self-eat. Autophagy is part of our evolution process to clean our body of debris and to extend life. It is body’s own way of housekeeping.

However, Autophagy gets activated only in fasted state. When we are constantly in the fed state, body is busy processing the food that we have put in that it does not get time for housekeeping. Intermittent fasting, with its extended fasting hours activates this process. Autophagy gets active only after 18 to 20 hours of fasted state. So, to get the benefits of autophagy, we need extended fasts. I do an extended fasting of 36 hours or 48 hours once a month and 20+ hours of fasting once or twice a week.

By getting rid of all the defective cells and debris, Autophagy essentially slows down or sometimes even reverses the aging process. In my own experience, when I started IF, my friends started telling me I was looking younger. That is the power of IF. As a reference below is a comparison. The left image is me when I was 38 years old. The right one is me at 48 years.



IF and Workouts:

As I have mentioned in the previous posts, if the goal is to lose weight, diet is the key. So, if you practice IF without any physical activity, you will still lose weight in a healthy way.

However, adding workouts to IF gives you a double advantage of getting healthy and fit. Also, when you workout in the fasted state, you will aid the body to use up all the stored glycogen (glucose stored in muscles and liver) faster and switch to fat burning till the next meal.

Do 30 to 45 minutes of brisk activity in fasted state. This could be a brisk walk, jog, cycling, swimming, badminton or any other similar activity. The goal should be to perform this activity 12 hours after the last meal just when insulin levels hit zero. And extend fasting for a few hours after the activity.

Another useful workout to go with IF is HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). In this method, you perform at high intensity for 30 seconds to a minute and then recover a couple of minutes and repeat. HIIT due to the high intensity efforts uses up the glycogen stores faster and helps in quicker weight loss.

Which IF method to follow:

This greatly depends on your current health and weight and your goals. If you have a lot of body weight to lose, then longer fasts like 20:4 or OMAD will be beneficial. If you are not too overweight and want to maintain your weight, then 16:8 with a few longer fasts will help.

I recommend mixing it up and keep the body from settling into a routine – after all that is what our body has been designed for.

Personally, I have made 16:8 as my standard with an hour’s workout 5 days a week. I do 20+ hours of fasting on my recovery and rest days. I do an extended fasting of 36 or 48 hours once a month.

Common Doubts on IF:

Below are some of the common doubts that come to everyone’s mind when considering IF.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you are asking me to skip breakfast:

We have grown up with everyone from our parents to Kelloggs telling us breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

In the million+ years of human evolution, the concept of timed meals appeared only in the civilized society. In the paleolithic age of hunter gatherers there was no concept of breakfast, lunch and dinner. Human beings used to hunt for food and till the next hunt go without food. There is a reason why our body developed the fat storage mechanism. This is to store fat during abundance and burn fat when there was no food. This is what helped humans to survive. But in our present lifestyle, we only activate the fat storage part and never let the body to use the stored fat.

With the extended fasting hours, we are activating the mechanism that our body has evolved over a million years. Also, technically, the first meal you have after a fast is the breakfast. There is no need to have it at 8 in the morning.

Will I get acidity:

Another question most of my friends ask me is will they get acidity with IF. Body is an intelligent machine. As we have trained it with breakfast at 8 am day after day, it gets into a routine and even before you put food in your mouth, it can start the preparing for digestion by secreting acid in the stomach. Once the body sees that food is not arriving at this expected time, it takes just three to four days for it to reprogram this schedule.

What is allowed during the fasting window:

This is an important doubt everyone beginning IF has. What can I have during my fasting window? Anything that has zero calories (I definitely do not recommend Coke Zero) – green tea, black coffee (without cream or sugar), or just plain water. In longer fasts, you may consider having a glass of lime juice with salt to compensate for electrolytes.

What should be the eating window:

There is no rule for this. You can choose your eating window based on your lifestyle and preference. For example, in a 16:8 fast, you could skip your morning meal and set your eating window between 12 noon to 8pm, or skip your evening meal and set your eating window between 8am to 4pm.

Who can do IF:

Fasting is not recommended for pregnant ladies, kids below 18 years and for people who are underweight. Everyone else can follow IF.

Conclusion:

After experimenting with various techniques like calorie counting, low carb, Keto and IF, I find IF to be the most sustainable lifestyle change for a healthy life and to maintain a healthy weight.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[catchjyoti]

Kudos to you for actualizing this big change in yourself. You look much fitter now compared to a decade back.

And thank you for the excellent explanation of Interval Fasting. I had heard about it from some of my office colleagues but couldn't get such details and practical knowledge from them.

[swiftLife]

An amazing thread!!!!!

Absolutely the most important info of all.

Originally Posted by graaja

Weight loss is 90% diet and 10% physical activity. Physical activity is not the key to weight loss. How much ever physical activity you do, if you do not take care of diet, weight loss will not happen.

I went through a similar transition, from 86+ kg to 58 kg.

And I too tried both Insanity and P90X, but in the end realized that diet was the key. Everything else is secondary.

Want to just a bit more info (for others). The focus should not be weight loss but on becoming metabolically healthy. Please know that a perfectly normal weighing person can still be metabolically ill. And such people are as susceptible as overweight people to diabetes and other lifestyle diseases.

[landcruiser123]

Graaja,
This is inspiring. I think you've opened my eyes. In 2020, I've biked a lot (> 3500km, also climbing hills) and stated running (about a 120km in 2 months), yet I feel the same way as you described in stage 2 - a man who is able to run and bike a lot, yet has a belly.

I'll start an IF diet today and continue do the 'diet' bit of weight loss right. Other than black coffee, green tea, and lime juice, what would you recommend in terms of low calorie - high fiber to tackle my hunger pangs?

I get extremely irate when hungry, so I'm thinking of fruits, corn, nuts etc in the initial stages to have enough fibre at the end of my eating period.

[BoneCollector]

I don't have words to express what you have achieved. Fantabulous is all I can say.

The weight loss journey is pretty well explained. Your snaps look straight out of the ads that proclaim, guaranteed weight loss or else full refund! Hats off to you. This thread will serve as an inspiration to so many people, self included.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by catchjyoti

...You look much fitter now compared to a decade back.
And thank you for the excellent explanation of Interval Fasting...

Thank you for the kind words! I hope you are considering the lifestyle of IF for a healthy life.

Originally Posted by swiftLife

An amazing thread!!!!!
...
Want to just a bit more info (for others). The focus should not be weight loss but on becoming metabolically healthy. Please know that a perfectly normal weighing person can still be metabolically ill. And such people are as susceptible as overweight people to diabetes and other lifestyle diseases.

Thank you for your kind words!

You are absolutely right. Even people who are not overweight can have metabolic syndrome which can lead to diabetes. IF can be a great tool to these people as well. I will take a note on this and plan to write about this in one of the future posts.

Originally Posted by landcruiser123

Graaja,
This is inspiring. I think you've opened my eyes. In 2020, I've biked a lot (> 3500km, also climbing hills) and stated running (about a 120km in 2 months), yet I feel the same way as you described in stage 2 - a man who is able to run and bike a lot, yet has a belly.

I'll start an IF diet today and continue do the 'diet' bit of weight loss right. Other than black coffee, green tea, and lime juice, what would you recommend in terms of low calorie - high fiber to tackle my hunger pangs?

I get extremely irate when hungry, so I'm thinking of fruits, corn, nuts etc in the initial stages to have enough fibre at the end of my eating period.

Some guidelines for what you could eat during your eating window.

• Zero sugar
• Have low to moderate carbs. Most of the carbs should come from vegetables. Replace rice or wheat with millets that are rich in fiber.
• Have moderate protein. This can come from eggs, meat or fish. If you are a vegetarian, protein can come from paneer, cheese, channa or lentils
• Add generous dose of dietary fat from ghee, butter, coconut oil etc.
• Avoid fruits which are high in sugar like bananas, mangos etc. Have fruits which are low in sugar like berries (strawberries, blueberries), papayas, guavas etc.

Don't worry about those hunger pangs. In a week's time you will feel so energetic, you will not have any more hunger pangs. Check out the below post from my friend and fellow TBHP member deepfreak15. He recently completed two days of track days in fasted state.

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...-speedway.html (Motorcycle Track day with RACR - Kari motor speedway)

Here is what he has to say on IF:

If you follow IF and low carb diets you will know hydration and staying away from sugar is key in keeping your energy levels up and to get your body fat adapted. Not that I wanted to prove a point but I completed both days in a fasted state and drank only water and black coffee. I can safely say, I did not feel tired even once during the entire two days. In fact I was still buzzing when I left Coimbatore after the second day. So I have no clue how the lunch served was and have no intention of finding out.

I have come a long way from needing to eat every two hours and getting "hangry" if I dont, to not knowing what hunger means anymore

I have done a similar experiment during my annual pilgrimage walk of 120 kilometers from Coimbatore to Palani. Our team walks about 35 kilometers a day with about 17 to 18 kilometers in a session. Last year, I did my walk while doing my 16:8 IF. I walked the morning session of 18 kilometers in fasted state and had my first meal only around 12 or 1 pm. And I was feeling absolutely fine and energetic.

So, just do not worry about those hunger pangs and get into IF. Let me know after a couple of weeks how you feel

[Cessna182]

One of the best explanations about weight loss, intermittent fasting and workouts I have ever read. Thank you for sharing.

With your determination you will surely fulfill your advanced fitness goals.


I never knew much about dietary concepts. However, I met a friend who told me that he only had one solid meal a day. That made me curious and I read more about it and found that one meal a day is actually a very useful concept. I tried it and just like you said, the first few days were difficult due to acidity and weakness. But it improved soon. I also reduced my intake of all forms of sugars except those in fruits to 0. While my weight is under control, I also feel fresher and more active after undertaking these small changes.

[TheHelix0202]

Wonderful sir, you look like a totally new person. "Aazhe adayalam therila!" Like they say, patience is a virtue that needs to be mastered and you've done just that.

[TROOPER]

From The Weight Loss thread to this, inspiring as always

Your fitness journey has been one of the major inspirations for me. After being overweight and then obese since late teens, hitting a high of 113 kgs in 2018, I currently weigh 80 kgs. I'll be honest and say I haven't been as disciplined as you, but I'm in a way better place than I was a couple years ago. Target is 68 and hope to reach there soon!

Your IF advice of 16:8 coupled with a workout at the 12-13 hr mark does work wonders. I have tried it. Works well with walking, but not that easy with cycling. A bit of carb loading at night really improves my cycling performance, compared to cycling in IF. Currently I just eat a spoonful of sabzi at night and that's it. Has helped me shed the last couple of kilos.

Thanks for sharing your fitness journey and keep inspiring!!

[SPIKE ARRESTOR]

Originally Posted by graaja

After experimenting with various techniques like calorie counting, low carb, Keto and IF, I find IF to be the most sustainable lifestyle change for a healthy life and to maintain a healthy weight.

Graaja, congratulations on your personal achievement, yours is truly a very motivational story. You look like a completely different person now, when compared to your 10 year old photo.

I have one question, are there any precautions or things to be kept in mind before beginning with IF ? Does one need to consult a Dietician / Doctor to check if one can begin with the fasting process? Just to make sure that there are no hidden dangers to my body, and in case of any emergencies, what needs to be done. Any medical checkups that one should do before / during this process? Are there any other vital parameters that are monitored except may be weight, BP etc.?

Spike

[deathwalkr]

That is a really dedicated transformation! Congratulations! If someone had shown the two pics to me i would have said no way are they the same person!