2018 had been one of those rare years where I attempted numerous things and actually got hooked on to hiking, much to my surprise. We had done a few hikes as a group through a community group and also individually with a group of friends that included my buddy M.
My passion for hiking increased to such feverish heights that, when M asked me if I would be interested in doing the West Coast Trail (WCT), an 80 km hike in the rugged terrain of Vancouver Island, without batting my eyelid, I said yes.
Maybe, M thought I was just fibbing and was not serious about this strenuous hike. Nevertheless, I started collecting information about this trail and how to actually accomplish this feat.
It was a cold evening in December when I met M at the movie “Possession of Hannah Grace”. While chatting, about various things, slowly the topic changed to WCT hike and this time, I was more knowledgeable. I was able to talk about the trail. As M saw that I was quite serious about WCT, he right away said, I had to consider my health and my weight in particular, if I was seriously considering hiking WCT.
Well, I knew weight was an issue. Though I was doing a lot of hikes, WCT was another beast altogether and I knew that. I had to backpack and actually be able to carry a weight of about 22 kg and hike the terrain. I had already considered that, and still I wanted to do it.
When we met at a common friends house, the next time, before Christmas, WCT invariably came for discussion. I insisted on trying the trail in 2019. Out of nowhere, M challenged me to reduce my weight by about 10 kilos in three months. I accepted without thinking how I was going to do that. My only condition was that I would start in the New Year, as I didn’t want to lose out on eating sumptuous dinners during the holiday season.
Thus the Losing Game began.
After returning home, I started worrying about how I was going to achieve this, particularly with a very hectic schedule, that included travelling. I started Googling and reading a lot of materials. Most of them either talked about strenuous diets or exercises. There was no middle path. Every one of these dieticians was placing restrictions on a lot of food varieties. And me being a vegetarian was not being helpful at all. Adding on, when your staple food is rice, and to top it all, if you have allergies (for chlorine in water), you are literally dead.
So, how was I going to do it? I didn’t want special foods to be prepared at home for each meal, for myself, to cater to my diet. I wanted a more sustainable option. Something that I can follow for a long time, better yet make it my lifestyle.
During one of my researches, I stumbled upon a diet that seemed to be doable. It was not asking me to let go of most of the food items, but asked me to eat them all in the right proportion and only when hungry. Just had to avoid caffeine, deep-fried food, potatoes and sugar – cheating once in a while was allowed. The amount of exercise required was only about 30-45 minutes a day and that too, not vigorous ones. That seemed reasonable and I didn’t bother to check what diet this was.
On Jan 2nd I started this wonderful journey. Also, I started off with swimming in the evenings.
I had a cup of hot water with half a lemon – trying to fool my brain (in vain) that it was coffee.
With no coffee and very less carbs for 2 days, I had started having withdrawal symptoms. By the end of the second day, I had headaches and nausea. My body needed caffeine very badly. Like an addict, I smelt coffee to appease my brain cells. The third and fourth days were the worst. I was very irritable and my brain was not functioning properly. My brain said that I had to drink a large Starbucks mug of coffee and eat a large scoop of ice cream with potato fries.
However, I didn’t want to give up. I had to fight. I resisted. After all, at the end of it, this game was for my benefit.
Lo and behold, by the fifth day, I started seeing my weight decrease. The weighing machine showed a kilo less. That certainly was a huge motivation. By the time it was a week, I started getting used to no coffee and less carbs. From then on, I noticed that I was losing more than a kilo per week. I lost 4 kg by Jan 20. As a treat for myself, as a family we had a sumptuous meal at Saravanaa Bhavan (and I cheated).
What an awesome feeling it was to feel lighter! However, nobody (including my best half) actually noticed my weight loss, which was disheartening. I did not lose hope though, and comforted myself that people would start noticing soon.
Jan 21st, I hit the first obstacle.
to continue…