tea gardens

tea gardens

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Battle of the .....

That thin girl is how i was described for the better part of my live.Then somewhere in my 30s I started putting on weight.It gains at such slow pace that one doesn't notice it until its too late.I am a great one for comfort so my clothes were more towards comfort than style and that meant loose and comfy.No wonder i didn't notice.Well by the time i did ,it was time for drastic action.Now at best of times i am a lazy laid back person so getting into routine especially if the goal is something as uninspiring as loosing weight,well it just doesn't work for me.I started with walking but when one has to rush to office and ensure that breakfast is done,lunch packed etc etc,its no surprise that that fell by the wayside.Then it was yoga.For a while that fact that a fat body could actually accomplish such convoluted postures,had its own attraction but that also fell by the wayside.I was beginning to understand the true meaning of "the battle of the bulge".While i experimented and tried and failed at various things,the weight itself was doing rather well.It was getting the upper hand.Obviously the body and mind were two different things and the thing that was to keep them together was missing all along.By the time I was ready to give up work life and try and get some balance to my life,the scales were shifting at an alarming pace and balance seemed to have been the victim.Four years on,I have been fairly consistent .It started with yoga (yes i went back to it thanks to a patient teacher and a kind friend with similar issues).That took up three days of my week and the results were encouraging.While the whole world was finding peace and happiness,weight loss and a lot of other things besides,that's to yoga,I was just happy that i could make it to class three days a week.Huge achievement.Then I learnt swimming and discovered the joys of floating in trashing through water.I had found a new love.It left me feeling refreshed in the otherwise oppressive heat of my city and it didn't leave me tired.Along the way i also made a few friends.Then November rolls around and the visitors come along and all good intentions go for a toss.Add to it that my exercise companion had developed wheels on her feet and is forever on some travel agenda or the other so those days I cant get to do much.Clever woman that we are we have discovered a new way to keep our walks interesting.In the last two months we have discovered our entire neighbourhood,its many streets,we know who are the good gardeners,the lazy ones,the ones with no taste and the ones with too much money.We are having a blast.Now at the rate at which we have been exercising one would imagine we have lost enough weight to model for a fitness place.(most people with our routine would have qualified).Ever heard of exceptions to the rule?....well looks like we are those.After years of varied exercise and experiments we are still at the same weight we started off at.The only balance we have achieved is that our weight has been arrested (please not we didn't loose any just stoped the juggernaut from making any headway).So we continue in our quest and have gained enough experience to write a regular health column but the actual results leave a lot to be desired,but we tarry on and don't give up.Now if that's not discipline then what is?