Losing Weight

In Sep 2018, I had a bet with Frank that I would lose 7 lbs by the end of 2018. And another 10 lbs by Nov 30, 2019. Frank similarly committed to losing a total of 13 lbs, 4 and 9 lbs in the same period. We would owe the other $1,000 per lb that we fell short of.  Hence each of us could not control what we would win, but totally controlled what we could lose. The high stakes also meant that I could not afford to lose. And I was reasonably confident of making the goal.

In Dec 2018, I did manage to lose the 7 lbs. This wasn't easy and took a combination of dieting, exercising, and on a few days starving. I cut off all desserts and sodas and this definitely helped. Since I had a sweet tooth. And as Ivy put it, "Didn't know that water is the staple drink. Not Soda."

Come 2019 and all was forgotten. I did not go back to all of my bad habits, but as my weighing machine would testify, by end September I gained back all of the lost 7 lbs and a few extra lbs in interest.

2 months to go. And the 10 lbs I had to lose, had become 20. It seemed that there was no way I would make it. And I could not afford to not make it. Learning from my previous tryst with the weight loss, I decided to try and do it in a manner that I would be able to keep it off.

I made a plan. Actually I made 4 plans. Plan A, B, C & D. I was hoping and would do my best to achieve my goal with Plan A. Plan B, C & D were backups, since I wanted to do everything possible to not lose the bet.

Plan A consisted of 3 parts. What I called (Actually I just made it up now), the DEF Plan. Diet. Exercise. Frequency.

Diet
The Diet was a healthy diet. And it was as much as I wanted to. It was anything and everything. Except Desserts, Bread & Rice. Consisted mainly of salads, fruits, meats, veggies, ... I wasn't obsessed and on the several occasions that I had to go out for dinner or have a meal at a relative's or friends place, I would eat whatever was served. However, I was extremely disciplined when I was on my own. Which fortunately was most of the time.

Exercise
I would go for 1 hour on the Treadmill. On as many days as practical. Again while I tried to be disciplined, due to my schedule it wasn't always possible. I just did the best I could. On as many days as I could. And averaged 3 - 4 days a week.

Frequency
I was using the Intermittent Diet Methodology. I would try and have my dinner by 9 pm when I could. And I would as far as possible have my first solid food after noon. In the intermittent period, I would have Water (Yes, I finally discovered it), Club Soda (You can't disown Soda, can you ?), Green Tea and Black Coffee. Lots of the Coffee.

Around Nov 15, I was close. But, not close enough. I started ordering the items I needed to carry out Plans B and C. And researched where I could execute Plan D. Just because I was preparing for Plans B, C and D does not mean I gave up on A. I continued doing Plan A.

On Nov 21, when I woke up, I saw a WhatsApp message from Frank. With a picture of him having reached his goal. He now had a 3 lb allowance for Nov 30.

I felt the pressure. And weighed myself. And I couldn't believe what I saw. I too had reached my goal. And now I too had a 3 lb allowance for Nov 30. I was almost home. 9 days to go.

While I tried to keep up the tempo, the allowance made me lax. And did not lose any more weight. The good news was that I didn't put on any weight either.

I had not lost the Bet. But did lose a lot of weight in the process. And I hope to make this WhatsApp message to my family come true.
"Least weight in the last 20 years. Max weight of the next 20".