Well yes, I was jolted out of my comfort zone and was revealed the harsh cold fact that I was indeed way overweight and on the brink of slipping into a chronic degenerative disease. But what next???
You know the day I did my blood sugar test and it was revealed to be higher than normal, my husband kind of went in to a hyper anxiety mode. But I was cool and composed and was reacting like it was any of my patient's that I was looking at... the truth was that i was in a daze. i had gone into a limbo and was not able to process the information inside. it took me week if i remember right to get the fact assimilated in my system. but it did eventually and that is when all hell broke loose. i suddenly discovered that i had a 44 inches waist i was 89 kilos and was unable to climb one flight of stairs without panting. all this at the age of 30.
my immediate reaction was to start looking at all that was wrong around me. how everybody else's behavior was preventing me from doing the right thing. how i had no time because nobody helped me at home; nobody gave me a good meal plan to stick to and of course i couldn't be expected to cook every day. i told myself what i had heard many times before that being fat wasn't an indication of how unhealthy you are after all i could be big boned right? also, i have always been on the plumper side all my life and people told me that i looked good in spite of being big. the blood sugar was a result of my genes. i have a 100% chance of getting diabetes as both my parents are diabetic and so are most of my older relatives. i complained that my husband wasn't taking care of me wasn't giving me a helping hand at home, how was i supposed to exercise with almost no time on my hands blah blah and blah.....
and then i calmed down one day and sat down to think what was happening to me. why was i unable to get going in spite of knowing what had to be done and that it had to be done right away? this is when i discovered that the obstacles all were indeed in my head. i simply had to overcome my own self.
i said i didn't have time [roll eyes] come on, i had a house and a child and some cooking to care for. i thought let me take in small steps. i saw that if i put in just a little effort i could take that first step and make time for myself. i had help about the house. so all i needed to do was getting up and going. i did that. i started going to aerobics in the evening everyday, religiously. this was my first step. it went a long way because when i committed a good amount of money to the gym, i was compelled to go there no matter what.
next came my food habits. i always believed that i wasn't a big eater and that i was fat because my metabolic rate was genetically slow [you know how we feel about women who can eat what they want and stay skinny]. but with a detached mind i analysed that i was indeed eating all wrong and too much as well. of course this had to change. also, the fact that i was regularly exercising helped me curb my cravings. most of the time, eating is emotional and it is that kind of eating that makes us unhealthy. human being should truly eat what is required for sustenance and nourishment not to fill a void within. but since exercise was giving me a high everyday and i was truly out there performing and feeling exhilarated, i didn't need to eat too much to feel good.
next i realized that though a doctor myself, i really didn't know much about food and nutrition. therefore i was ill suited to work on my blood sugar. so what i did? i studied. i really worked at understanding the basics of metabolism and nutrition [that i was supposed to study for 10 marks in first year].
this was the period that my life underwent a sea change. i began organizing my life and really proactively doing things. until then life was just happening to me but now, i was living it.
in short, all it took was my acknowledgement that i was not okay and the recognition of the fact that i needed to work on my health and my resolve to do it... really everything else just fell into place.
Dr. Seema Mahesh