Getting Healthy for 2021: The Essentials of an Inspiring Weight Loss Journey
As we wrap up the holiday season and prepare for 2021, putting away the holiday cookies and planning our health and fitness goals for the new year, it is challenging to know where to start! Today’s woman dreamer, Samita Apte, shares her weight loss journey, and how she lost weight the healthy way. From yoga, meal planning, and maintenance strategies, Samita shares essential tips for all, no matter where you are in your fitness goals! A Certified Yoga Instructor, with an interest in Yoga for Diabetes, and a passion for giving back through her involvements with Being Volunteer USA and Indian Circle of Caring, she is a woman of many talents! Let’s start off 2021, the healthy way with Samita!
Weight loss was not a goal of my yoga practice, but it has been a result. In 2016, I started gaining a lot of weight and gradually my weight went up by 15 pounds, due to a medical condition. Due to this I tried many diets which would help me lose 3-4 pounds and then back to square one as soon as I ate sweets or high calorie snacks around the holidays etc. I am not a doctor or a nutritionist, but I am a yoga therapist who has had success losing 19 lbs and keeping it off.
Yoga’s Part
In December 2019 it was my calling to do Samayama yoga with Sadhguru of Isha Foundation, which was really a long shot for me at that time, but I was willing to do whatever it takes to get there. As a result I started practicing Isha Hatha Yoga 3 times a week and Surya Shakti 3 times a week. I just focused on doing yoga every day and not much on diet. In the first 3 months I lost 6-7 pounds. The experience of completing Samayama with Sadhguru was so profound that the 6-7lbs weight loss was irrelevant for me.
Just before the lockdown I came back from India. After that I started gaining the few lbs that I had lost but my clothes were fitting a little bit better than before as I had lost fat and gained muscle. In July I decided to start brisk walking along with my yoga practice. I used to walk 40 min in the morning and do 45 mins of yoga after that. Since it was summertime I ended up doing 5-6 miles a day as hiking trips were a routine twice a week. As the weight started to drop, I started focusing on my diet. I started eating more green vegetables, less carbs, more protein and recently added Millets to my diet as well.
With regular yoga , brisk walk and diet I lost 19lbs. I was losing 1-2 pounds a week and this motivated me to go on, after losing 19 lbs I was not losing any more pounds but was losing inches. I used to fit in size 12-14 now started fitting in size 6-8.
How to do yoga and the best poses for weight loss
If you're new to yoga, a good way to start is to reach out to a local studio or hire a yoga instructor. "With a few lessons from a private instructor, one can learn to perform common breathing exercises and postures, and learn a little more about the history and philosophy of yoga
Weight loss is about Calories.
“A total of 3,500 calories equals 1 pound of body fat”. Losing weight is all about calories, you need to consume 350 calories less a day for 10 days to lose a pound. Also it is important to know your BMI and TDEE and cut the right amount of calories needed in order to safely lose weight. It’s important to have a healthy diet to fuel your day and your workouts, but when it comes to weight loss, the amount of food you eat is much more important than what you’re eating. You can eat as clean as you want, but if you take in too many calories, you will gain weight. This is where the math comes in.
Lasting weight loss happens slowly.
Especially for people who are in a normal healthy weight range. Our body doesn’t want to let go of its fat storage and it can be a stubborn process. Don’t expect to lose 5, 8 or 10 pounds in a week. This type of weight loss is not healthy and likely will not last. Try instead to aim for 1–2 pounds per week max. Honestly, even this is a lot! I take it as a huge win if I’ve lost half a pound in a week.
How to calculate your BMI:
There are a lot of free online BMI calculators you can use, including this one from the https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/adult_bmi/english_bmi_calculator/bmi_calculator.html
This will give you an idea if you’re in a healthy weight range already or not.
Next, it’s important to calculate your TDEE, or your total daily energy expenditure and its the average amount of calories you burn in a day.
Calculate your TDEE:
Again, lots of free online TDEE calculators available. You can try this one:
Once you have your TDEE, figure out how many calories a day would reflect a 20% reduction in overall calories. I’ve had success cutting 15–20%, but I like to plan on 20% so I can leave room for little slip-ups in my day.
Meal plan and here comes the tricky part
I believe doing even just a little yoga in the morning helps to curb cravings throughout the day. I usually eat my brunch between 10.00 and 10.30am. My diet is a protein based diet with take fiber to curb my appetite and I drink lots of water and I feel fine.I eat my supper between 5.30 and 6.30pm. In-between if I feel hungry I eat fruit or nuts. I have also treated myself with Ice cream, different desserts and managed my calorie intake. Once you reach your desired weight,it can be difficult to carefully come off of the diet with reverse dieting. The time you spend coming off your calorie-cutting phase is just as important to your weight loss as cutting calories was in the first place.
This is the hard part because once you’re done cutting calories; you’re kind of done right? But you can’t just go back to eating your full TDEE right away or your body will go into rapid fat storage. This is where people who have had success losing weight get trapped and end up gaining back more than they lost in the first place. It’s important to come off your calorie restriction slowly, adding about 100 calories at a time for a few days, then 100 more for a few days, and continue like this until you’re back at your full TDEE and you can go into maintenance mode. Monitor your weight closely while reverse dieting and if you start to gain weight, don’t worry you can just go back to cutting for a little while and then try to build your calories up more slowly next time.
Maintenance mode
Something worth noting : after you’ve lost the weight and reversed your diet back up to your full TDEE, you should still keep an eye on how much you eat to maintain your weight. No matter how much you work out or how clean you eat, if you take in more calories than your TDEE you will put weight back on.
Overall
Yoga has definitely helped me lose weight but there are so many other benefits I get out of my yoga practice too. Yoga helps to center me and makes me feel more peaceful throughout the day, it improves my strength, flexibility, back pain, and sleep habits. These are the reasons I keep returning to my yoga mat and the weight loss has just been an added bonus!
If you’re starting out on a weight loss journey, I highly recommend discussing it with your doctor first.
Enjoy, good luck, and namaste.
Thank You Samita for Sharing Your Story with Us! We are excited to have you in our empowered women’s network!
Samita Apte has a Master's Degree in Computer Management from Pune University and is also a Certified Yoga Therapist specialized in Yoga for Diabetes from Svyasa University, Bangalore. She has over 9 years of experience as a Certified Yoga Instructor and has conducted several Yoga for Diabetes workshops in the New England Area and conducts a free weekly Yoga and Meditation Class as her passion for community service. She joined the Indian Circle for Caring USA Inc, as a Program Coordinator 3 years ago and is actively involved in it. She also serves as President of Being Volunteer Foundation USA Inc. She lives in the Boston area for the past 20 years with her Husband, Son, and their dog.
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