[graaja]

Originally Posted by am1m

Any thoughts, suggestions are welcome and thanks for all your advice on this and the other fitness thread!

I don't think dietary fat like cheese or red meat play a role in cholesterol and need not be cut out. Sugar is the culprit.

However, it is better to follow doctor's advice. The diet looks fine as it cuts out sugar as well. So continue with the doctor's advice on diet.

The only addition you could do is to add some form of intermittent fasting. A 16 hour IF is ideal. But if you do not want to try that long a fasting, do at least a 13 hour fast. Have your dinner early at say 7PM and your breakfast at 8AM, and nothing in between (no coffee, or tea or snacking). This is one of the best sustainable lifestyle changes that can help in improving the health markers.

[am1m]

Originally Posted by graaja

I don't think dietary fat like cheese or red meat play a role in cholesterol and need not be cut out. Sugar is the culprit.

That would be great! Red meats is not such a big issue for me to give up, don't really have too much of those anyway. Desserts and chocolates should be pretty easy to give up too since my wife is already against them and if we don't keep them at home, that should solve it. But giving up cheese is quite a big deal for me. Plus, it's pretty much my main source of calcium since I don't drink coffee or tea, or milk. But most sources I've read identify cheese as a big contributor to cholesterol levels, so am a bit confused. The doc was also pretty clear about not having cheese. Any alternate source of calcium? Thinking about starting with a glass of milk instead (without the fat). Thank you again for all the pointers!

Originally Posted by graaja

The only addition you could do is to add some form of intermittent fasting.

Thanks, will slowly try and incorporate this too.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by am1m

That would be great! Red meats is not such a big issue for me to give up, don't really have too much of those anyway. Desserts and chocolates should be pretty easy to give up too since my wife is already against them and if we don't keep them at home, that should solve it. But giving up cheese is quite a big deal for me.

Cheese is not bad. But also note when you fast long hours and you plan to break your fast, dont load yourself. Also a protein intake to break fast is better.

Try not to mix Carb and Fat intake together when breaking fast. I know its difficult to do. When you are fasted body can absorb anything. Hence its important you dont take a combo. Take more protein + (fat or carb). Given some time and then go for the larger meal.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by GTO

The biggest challenge of weight loss is "maintenance". We must talk about it more.

Originally Posted by abirnale

From being a 95kg obese 40+ year old to be able to finish my first ever half marathon running distance in just little above 2 hours...

And so I thought of putting something up here that may inspire: Love these Google Photos thrown automatically with the theme of then and now:





And wish me some more luck - In January 2022, approximately 2 full years and 2 months after I started running, I will run my first full marathon to the finish line, without dragging my feet - eagerly waiting for Bangalore Marathon or TMM (preferred).

[bblost]

I think the problem with cheese is that they sell this highly processed goop with a generic name like "cheese" in tins and packets.

Cheese with a name like cheddar, ricotta, mozzarella should be fine.

[ValarMorghulis]

I have finally lost a part of my excess weight gained during the covid-19 lockdown time.

I am 172 cm in height and was always on the podgy side of things but still athletic.
Gained a lot of weight around 2015 (95kgs) and then slowly worked to lose it all to a fantastic 78kgs in 2019. Then came covid19 and weight gain; gained to 91kgs by July 2021 (despite working out regularly).

Since last few months, I have massively cut down on my mithai, fried, deep fried and did I say mithai(?) intake along with 6 days a week workout to lose around 9kgs.

Today morning I was 82.1kgs.

Aim is to maintain the current diet and no mithai till November 2021 and to maintain from then. Diwali being my favourite festival, I will eat few sweets.

That said, nothing like being fit and strong.

Diet: No fried or sugar stuff. All my sugar comes from fruits. Once a week, half a tea spoon sugar in tea.
Exercise: A mix of HIIT, Yoga, running 8kms, etc.

[RavenAvi]

Never thought I would be posting in this thread, but here's my very first post:-

I was a fit 5'11" guy until I let go of playing professional cricket around 1998. Studying for my Masters in Computer Management and sitting in front of desktops for hours completing projects due to be submitted came with additional perks - the tummy, cheeks and thighs started growing!

By the time I joined LIC of India in 2006, I weighed a massive 121 kgs! Alarmbells rang and I was detained for a full day before probationary training for additional medical tests (T3/T4/TSH and some others I forgot) before they eventually green-lighted me, and so my career in a central government corporation started.

I was the same massive self during my marriage too in the same year. Thankfully my would-be other half didn't object to that (she weighed a measly 57 kgs back then and I could lift her with one hand!) but over the years she gained weight so that she could match me kilogram-for-kilogram. She's 88 now - that's kgs, not years!

Again, staying away from outdoor games and physical activity plus working late nights at office, daily food schedules going for a toss, eating plenty of non-veg, sugars, carbs, parties - everything magically turned into extra fats which kept adding to my body. Bad habits which added stress - overeating, extremely short temper, sitting for long periods, no walking, no exercises, nothing.


(end-2010)


(With the Team-BHPians of Pune in June 2012)

I never weighed myself in those times for fear of seeing my weight figures swelling enough to match my Dearness Allowance. (Remember the old Good Day biscuits ad from the 80s? Needle goes round and round before a card comes out saying "1000 kgs" on one side and "Have a Good Day" on the other - exaggerating, but you get the gist!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gsSy155V-Q

2017 and my first blood sugar test = 353! Weight was 132 kgs then. This started the innings of diabetes medicines in my life and a long suggestion list of avoids, which I followed for a while and stopped following later.


(2017)

February 2021. Weight was 126 kgs and sugar levels went up to 462! I dumped all older meds and started a new one which quickly brought sugar levels under control. This time, I decided to follow the "avoid" rules more strictly.


(Feb 2021)

Enter April 2021. March Closing was finally done and dusted on 8th April and that same day me and Ma went to get our first Covid-19 vaccination dose of Covishield. The new FY started from April 15 and the same routine started again - staying up till 12 AM in the office, skipping dinner on those days, eating lunch at 5-6PM, going to sleep at 3 AM, sometimes 4 or even 5 AM, etc. And no physical workouts/activity, except the office. Add to those, my sudden bouts of absolute furious anger at many things happening in life - either at life or at home. Sometimes (regretfully) unnecessary too, when I sat down to contemplate on it later.


(April 2021. With my little one and yes, that's my better half on the right!)

It all started with breathlessness in the first week of May after the state-wide Lockdown commenced here. Even a small 20-step stair climb became a huge effort. Chest area felt as if someone had grabbed it tightly and was not letting go for me to catch even one long breath. And long breaths HURT! Like, really badly hurt. It felt as if someone had hammered nails into the lungs!

Sitting on the floor caused the same breathlessness and a choking sensation, with the heart pounding wildly. It slowly came back to normalcy after standing back up hurriedly. Ma and wife mis-correctly diagnosed it as gas problems due to indigestion, and since Ma is a chronic constipation patient, kept giving me meds related to the same. And I noticed one other bad symptom - my ankles had swollen up into big round contours! Pressing on the swollen part made the finger press stay as a crater for a long time. Since stomach upsets were happening more frequently, I also blamed indigestion for the same and kept taking those meds, while promising myself to get my kidneys checked because of the swollen ankle problem. And I kept procrastinating.

Enter June and a new sensation entered my body - whenever I lied down from an erect position (standing/sitting) in my bed - there was a pounding blasting through my ears! The pounding was in sync with my heartbeats, which were racing inside my chest. Getting back up in a hurry made the heartbeat rate slow down and the pounding inside the ears go away. Lie back down, and the pounding was back. No matter in which post I slept - on the sides or on my back or on my stomach - it was bad. Really bad.


(June 2021)

This caused sleepless nights, or nights when I slept in sitting positions on my bed. It all aggravated to such an extent that one night in July when I finally drifted off to sleep, I suddenly woke up with an intense pain and choking sensation in the middle of the night. Panting with sweat, I gasped for air with long, deep breaths, ignoring the pinching pains in my chest which followed each long breath.

I didn't know then, but I came to know later that those moments were my first ever experience of a silent heart attack.

That's when I decided to consult a doctor (21st July). I weighed 112 kgs on that day. He checked me thoroughly and since he was also a cardiologist, he suggested getting an ECG done. The ECG came with all sorts of wrong readings. A Trop-T test report also added to the above - it came positive. He asked me to come the following day to get an Echo conducted as well. The rest of the reports were absolutely normal - BP, cholesterol, kidney function, sugar levels, liver function, BNP, CRP, etc. The Echo over the next day and with a Heart Ejection Fraction of 25%, he started me on heart meds and suggested to me to go somewhere outside and get my heart thoroughly checked immediately. His suggestion - the KIMS hospital, Secunderabad.

First week of August, my BIL drove me to KIMS, Secunderabad (11 hour journey from my Tier-3 city in Chhattisgarh). First day tests (ECG, cardiac MRI, blood tests, Echo) made my consulting preventive cardiologist at KIMS to call for an Angiogram the next day. Angiogram over and the good news - no clots or blockages found. Bad news - the heart is weakening due to dilated heart chambers and an enlarged left ventricle. I was diagnosed with DCM, Dilated Cardiomyopathy. Ejection Fraction = 17%. All the fears and worries of my local doctor had come true.

My doctor said he would start me on medicines and keep me for observation for a month. But I needed to lose weight quick. He suggested to follow his instructions regarding daily routine and food intake strictly, if I wanted improvement. I had to get back to my life and my job, so we returned on 8th August. As per my doctor's suggestion, I was due for Telemedicine/Video review call by end-August. In the meantime, he referred back to my local doctor for follow-ups.

My weight at KIMS on 1st August - 106 kgs.
My weight at KIMS on 7th August - 103 kgs.

The meds showed their effect immediately. The huge swelling in my ankles subsided quickly and haven't returned. The pounding inside the ears stopped completely when lying down and now I can sleep peacefully. In fact, some meds prescribed by my local doctor were continued by my consulting cardiologist from KIMS, some were stopped, while he added a couple of new ones.

My routine changed. Instead of waking up after 9 AM or 10 AM or sometimes sleeping till 11 AM, I started waking up at 6 AM! Morning walks for 15 minutes, followed by 2 small breakfasts 1 hour apart, snacks at 11, lunch at 2 PM, snacks at 5, evening walk for 15 minutes, and 2 small dinners 1 hour apart, and in bed by no less than 10:30 PM-11 PM. The medicine doses were spread accordingly, and all meds were to be taken with some food. So, instead of 3 huge meals a day, I am now having 7 small portions instead. Prohibitions - no meat, no fatty chickens or fish, no egg yellow, no fried stuff, no oily stuff, etc. Also, no lifting big weighty objects, no walking up a lot of stairs, and not driving vehicles for long periods of time/over long distances.


(end-August 2021)

For the first Telemedicine checkup in end-August, I went to get the reports prepared. First surprise, weight = 94 kgs! Reports were 10% better. Ejection fraction had improved to 22%, heart was pumping slightly better. I was losing weight fast and the heart was improving. No doubt, the new lifestyle contributed immensely to this. Meds were continued with the same dosage for 1 more month. Suggestion was given to increase walking time to 30 minutes, and add climbing stairs twice a day into my routine. Second Telemedicine call was scheduled for end-September.

Come 28th September, and it was reports time again. Weight this time = 89 kgs. Reports - one arterial branch blockage detected, lower blood platelets count, slightly higher blood urea & serum creatinine levels. The power of one heart tablet was increased (Cardivas 6.25 became Cardivas 12.5), and one extra medicine added to the list to support the kidney for 2 weeks. Blood sugar levels in control (FBS = 97, PPBS = 126), cholesterol normal, BP normal. Walking time now increased to 45 minutes a day, and climbing/going down stairs five times a day.


(first week of September 2021)

It is now 17th October. Weight = 86 kgs. I am still on the same routine as prescribed by the doctors. Not taking any job/office/family pressures at all. My doctor at KIMS had suggested a complete physical review in the first week of November, which he will clarify in the next Telemedicine call by end-October. He was impressed by my weight loss in the past 3 months, but said it's still too early to celebrate anything. A full year needs to pass with improvements before any diagnosis regarding overall fitness is finalised. I still need to shed more weight and go below 80.

Oh, and there's one more bad news of note - all my shirts and pants don't fit me anymore! They hang loosely on all sides. Even the leather belts I use need new holes drilled into them. 3XL Team-BHP tees hang so loosely now I feel embarrassed while wearing them. Back to 2XLs now (which are still loose!). Need to order some new XLs from Rehaan.

Friends keep grilling me on how I shed so much weight so quickly. I say, no gyms, no sweaty workouts, no playing outdoor games, no extra physical activity. Just a simple daily/diet routine change and adding the habit of walking 2 times per day into it, and sleep of no less than 7 hours in a 24-hour day.

I feel fitter and stronger from the inside. Lately I have started doing some extra community work as well without exhausting myself. The gents around me keep complimenting me on how good I look while I keep getting back into shape. Not to mention, the ladies around are now eyeing me more than ever - wife keeps mentioning this with a tinge of green jealousy in her eyes!

[pandey.jai]

Thanks am1m for pointing me to this thread.

I’ve had my first health check done recently and I’ve got my cholesterol off the charts. Triglycerides are at 300+. I’m yet to consult the doc but I’m looking for ways to reduce my cholesterol. Any of the experts here got any advice for me?
For reference, I’m a vegetarian and the last time I had a beer was Dec 2019 and I do not smoke.

[Sheel]

Originally Posted by ampere

Cheese is not bad. But also note when you fast long hours and you plan to break your fast, dont load yourself. Also a protein intake to break fast is better.

I have done long fasting, say 16 (almost regular) / 18 / 20 hours and with lemon water intake, I don't feel hungry much. Now my routine is breakfast / lunch at 11 to 12 noon and next meal at around 19:30 to 20:00 hrs. That is it.

I always make a point to break my fast with a small bowl (one handful at most) almond / raisins / walnut etc. Post that I don't feel hungry at all. Have a light meal maybe at least an hour after that. No bloat or any acidity.

Originally Posted by ampere

Try not to mix Carb and Fat intake together when breaking fast. I know its difficult to do. When you are fasted body can absorb anything. Hence its important you dont take a combo. Take more protein + (fat or carb). Given some time and then go for the larger meal.

Have excess of carb after fast and you will end up all bloated & not feeling nice at all.

[ampere]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Never thought I would be posting in this thread, but here's my very first post:-

Great to hear about this. But one aspect: Today you control your intake by schedule and quantity. Can you control by emotion? In other words how would you reduce the urge to take in junk stuff right in front of you?

Most of diet induced diabetes is a direct consequence of unhealthy eating habits. Especially high carbs. Besides controlling that aspect (an absolute must) you should slowly now work to increase your BMR (basal metabolic rate).

There are lots of inspirations in this thread to take you there. Do think about that aspect too. In other words slowly you should now look forward to actually heading out for that long walk or jog or whatsover. Once you get there and start seeing positive results, they will just boostrap your wellbeing upwards. (Both Physical and Mental)

[NPV]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

Never thought I would be posting in this thread, but here's my very first post:-

RavenAvi - Great transformation and you're on the right track, do not give up on the control and discipline you now have on your diet (keep sugars out, carbs low, add more veggies in, including greens) and portion control. Make the walking routine part of your daily activity, that will always help. As the situation improves further and after consulting your doctors you could add intermittent fasting into the mix. Wishing you the very best for a complete and speedy recovery

[vasudeva]

It may differ from person to person but there is no way I do not gain weight by consuming cheese as in pizza or processed or sugar. I am fine with paneer but not processed cheese. The bottomline is input and output and it is very hard to lose weight once you reach 40s-50s. I am 163 cm, and from a weight of 64-65 kg, gradually made it to 77 kg last year. Took me 1 year to get down to 74.5 kg. But then, persistence and longevity of being overweight brings problems such as high cholesterol and borderline diabetic levels.

Given a warning and put on statins, I have managed to lose 4 kg in 2 months just by eliminating processed/outside food to maybe once in 45 days, consuming less carbs, more protein, and moderate exercise. But now comes Diwali and the birthday/anniversary season. All the birthdays and anniversary in my family start from November and end in Jan.

[graaja]

Originally Posted by vasudeva

Given a warning and put on statins, I have managed to lose 4 kg in 2 months just by eliminating processed/outside food to maybe once in 45 days, consuming less carbs, more protein, and moderate exercise. But now comes Diwali and the birthday/anniversary season. All the birthdays and anniversary in my family start from November and end in Jan.

This is where IF (intermittent fasting) works better and is more sustainable. When you avoid certain types of food (that you may be very fond of) and if the craving keeps building up, chances of dropping the lifestyle and gaining all the lost weight is very high. With intermittent fasting, you can still have the types of food that you love in moderation and vary the fasting window. This results in better insulin control that is the root cause for various illnesses.

[vasudeva]

Originally Posted by graaja

This is where IF (intermittent fasting) works better and is more sustainable. When you avoid certain types of food (that you may be very fond of) and if the craving keeps building up, chances of dropping the lifestyle and gaining all the lost weight is very high. With intermittent fasting, you can still have the types of food that you love in moderation and vary the fasting window. This results in better insulin control that is the root cause for various illnesses.

You are right but ultimately it comes down to discipline, self control, and lots of determination. Most importantly, think of your family and would you want to put them in difficulty. That helped me quit a 22 year smoking habit in 2005, and a 10 year light drinking habit in 2002.

[RavenAvi]

Thank you, my friends.

Originally Posted by ampere

Today you control your intake by schedule and quantity. Can you control by emotion? In other words how would you reduce the urge to take in junk stuff right in front of you?

I already overcame that factor in my life when the first diagnosis was done by my local cardiologist. Now, whenever I see any such food in front of me, I think of my 9-year-old daughter and my own health and any such urge, if it comes, vanishes away in a jiffy.

Also, I have stopped eating sweets and many fatty/carb-related food from March 2021 onwards. I don't even touch prasad.

Self-control is now a part of my life.

Originally Posted by ampere

Most of diet induced diabetes is a direct consequence of unhealthy eating habits. Especially high carbs. Besides controlling that aspect (an absolute must) you should slowly now work to increase your BMR (basal metabolic rate).

Everything is as per the new routine I posted above. The two snack parts (at 11 AM & 5 PM) consist of fruits (semi-ripe apple/papaya/orange bowls), nuts, salads or almonds/walnuts.

Originally Posted by ampere

slowly you should now look forward to actually heading out for that long walk or jog or whatsover. Once you get there and start seeing positive results, they will just boostrap your wellbeing upwards. (Both Physical and Mental)

I am strictly following what my docs are prescribing/suggesting after the regular monthly reviews. They have not yet cleared the jogging/fast walk sessions yet. The end-October appointments will make this more clear.

Originally Posted by NPV

Great transformation and you're on the right track, do not give up on the control and discipline you now have on your diet (keep sugars out, carbs low, add more veggies in, including greens) and portion control. Make the walking routine part of your daily activity, that will always help. As the situation improves further and after consulting your doctors you could add intermittent fasting into the mix. Wishing you the very best for a complete and speedy recovery

Self-control is the key to regaining fitness, IMO. Whatever condition your body is in, unless and until you are fiercely determined to overcome all odds and make control THE integral part of your daily routine, any or all improvements won't happen.

Determination, discipline, control & spirit - the keys to success in such situations. Do it, and be pleasantly surprised by the way your body responds to the transformation and it's overall fitness.