How I lost my X factor – My journey from XXL to L (Part I)

Part 1 – The realisation

Sipping my coffee and delving into office gossip I had lost track of time. Either a debate on a recently concluded cricket match or working out work place romance usually filled our gossip. During one such intellectual dialogue, much to my annoyance, my phone rang with my managers name beaming on my phone. I was late for a meeting. A meeting where my mere presence in the room would have changed the course of humanity or so my manager thought. Punctuality is not a trait I am known for. Having annoyed my manager once too often that particular week and with appraisal discussions a week away I decided to put my running shoes on and race away to the meeting. By the time I reached the conference room the only words I could utter were gasps. And my shirt was more drenched than a Kareena Kapoor see-thru top.

As a kid I had never paid particular attention to my fitness. Home food and all those ‘bet-matches’, of cricket, that we engaged in ensured that it kept me at a certain level of fitness. Come college, cricket was replaced by movies and water with beer. My job required me to shift to Bangalore. First time in my life I was away from home and earning a salary with enough to spare. Young kid, money to spare, hectic job and a lot of pubs. You get the picture. I always knew that I was heavy and that has never bothered me. But the inability to get by daily chores without difficulty or having an ever expanding waist line made me question my choices. I was like a 3 year old who needs a wardrobe refresh every 6 months as he outgrows his clothes.

I had always avoided the weighing scale like the plague. One fine day I mustered enough courage to court with the dreaded scale. At my heaviest, I registered a ridiculous 127.5 kilos. Which was a little more than twice the weight of my wife, almost as heavy as a bear or a wildebeest. Enough horror stories about heart attacks, diabetes and other wonderful maladies associated with weight gave me the required jolt. Thus began my valiant fitness journey. I was ready to conquer the world. Now that I had decided to become the next Arnold Schwarzenegger, I needed an immediate goal. The inspiration came from my Facebook wall. Everyone I knew seemed to be running marathons. So I bought all the essentials for running a marathon – a music band, sweat resistant headphone, top of the line shoes, breathable clothes and a selfie stick! Did I cross the line and conquer the mind?

Keep reading to find out.