When you let procrastination steer your ship, you never quite know what
curious treasures, or hidden storms, might wash up on your shore. Sometimes
it’s a pleasant surprise; other times, it’s a wake-up call you didn’t see
coming. This time, as I finally decided to face what I’d been putting off, I
discovered just how unpredictable the extent of the outcome can be. And how not-so-surprising was the way I went about responding to it eventually!
The wake-up call
And so it was, around Christmas time last year, when I finally pulled myself
out of the slumber and decided to get the long-awaited health check-up done.
I was feeling “unhealthy” (read "overweight") for what felt like ages –
days, weeks, maybe even months. I was avoiding admitting to the truth I
suspected. But it was always there, lingering in the background. There were
gentle reminders on leveraging the corporate plan to get the
routine tests done – it was after all free once a year, and they also
wanted to show that they “cared for my well-being”. Phew, another
tick-in-the-box! The elder one’s school anyways didn’t let us go on a
vacation. So, one fine winter morning, a few vials and boxes of body fluids
went through the grind, to unearth the ‘treasure’.
Facing the numbers
There I was, armed with all the optimism in the world, or was it a well concealed trepidation, reports in hand much
before the 24 hours deadline - flipping through every page, checking every
number, analyzing every range. Initially, it was normal, then I noticed a few ambers on the screen, and then parameter by parameter, I had painted the town red. It turned out that I had not left even the
most basic indicators untouched by my generosity! The only reading within
perfect limits as per my "smart watch" turned out to be misleading.
Voila! The watch was not smart enough to measure the blood pressure
correctly. While certain numbers in the report were sufficient to
trigger a sense of bewilderment, I vividly remember the general physician silently turning towards my wife behind my back and murmuring – “Our friend needs to get his act together!” On
second thoughts, this one sentence in the Mother Hen's ears played a key role in the proceedings later on.
Building new habits
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| Image Courtesy: Of course, CHATGPT 😊 |
Well, it started with the dietician blocking ‘all good things in life’
from coming in my direction. The usual suspects – sweets, processed food,
potato, salt, rice, oil, certain fruits – everything needed to be stopped or
controlled immediately. Then the realization about interventions like portion
control; frequency, sequencing and timing of meals; importance of regular movements started feeling embarrassingly obvious. On top of that, who knew that those tiny seeds of pumpkin, sunflower, flax and chia could help so
much, or that just taking a quick 15-minute walk after dinner could do you
immense good?
While procrastination has been my Achille’s heel for a long time, I went back to the “old me” and pulled out the tenacity buried deep within.
Determination was the need of the hour, and almost immediately I could sense
the "old me". The target – I had to be down by 15 kgs in 6 months.
Rest everything will start falling in place once this goal is achieved. Steep slope? Yes! But we have crossed taller mountains and deeper gorges in the past. Remember the past manifestations like the one standing between the pillars! And then, if not now, when do we become serious about this? The
proverbial juggernaut started rolling!
It started with the most basic ask – a timetable. It might sound very
mundane, and something you don’t want to accept as an enforcement because
‘you are already self-disciplined’ – either the unknown voice or the fear of
the now known made me prepare one and follow that. Right from those
fenugreek seeds which needed to be immersed in water the night before; to
the oats soaked overnight in curd, with some dry fruits and seasonal
fruits, and cinnamon powder; to squeezing in those 40 minutes in the early morning routine for the mandatory 5,000
steps; to the tea without sugar (and not even
jaggery) - this one was difficult; to the measured consumption of oil (yes, certain ml per person per
day - it was fun to see the oil getting measured in those tiny measuring
spoons at the time of cooking); to the 3S dinner restriction of having
sprouts, salads or soups – it had to work in clockwise precision and a
lot of meticulous planning. It was a team effort; was certainly not possible
without Wifey’s support - I am sure the general physician murmured much more
than that line in her ears!
The results
The results started showing up immediately. Bloating reduced drastically –
it was great to be able to bend down to tie the shoe laces without feeling
the pressure on the chest; and breathlessness was far lesser. I generally
started feeling good, may be also because I was finally doing what I had
been procrastinating about for so long. Most importantly, I started knocking
off one kg weight on an average every week. I could sense the waist size
going down. The unwanted fat around certain body parts started disappearing.
The tightness in certain body parts while wearing clothes went
down. All this within a few weeks of some basic discipline!
By the end of three months, the weight was down from 88 to 77 (and hence the reference to the fat ladies and the hockey sticks), HB1AC was down from 7.1 to 6.0, the cholesterol and
triglyceride readings were within acceptable limits, and the B12s and
D3s were perfect. It was good to see ‘things happening’ and the results
so visible. It felt nice that the bottom-most visible button of my favorite
shirt was not getting shamelessly stretched. And of course, all those formal
trousers, which I had kept just like that, hoping someday I will wear them,
suddenly started becoming available for consideration.
Lessons learned
There comes a time in such a journey when you feel like kicking yourself in the backside, bending beyond your physical limitations. These are the basics which education should naturally bring to you. But you just keep on pushing it off to some future date. Imagine, a simple BMI calculation should have raised enough alarm in my mind to bring the damn number down from 'bordering obesity' to at least 'bordering overweight'. But the unmet new year resolution on the year-end target weight for last so many years would have meant reducing the BMI to just a little less than borderline obesity. Was I smoking pot all these years? No, beyond a point, it was not procrastination – I was perhaps living in a fool’s paradise or enjoying (or was it feigning) blissful ignorance.
As I end this year, seems some lessons need to be revisited again. A few
kgs and inches have been gained back over the last 9 months. The foodie in me will continue to exist. What is life without some indulgence, eh? But, there has to be a balance. And the mind now knows that the numbers can be regained. If 2025 new year
resolution was forced, 2026 is inspired by what
was achieved last year. The realization that procrastination can be overpowered – by action and by determination.
Why not target the perfect BMI this time? Needs a repeat of last year's
performance ... why not? Get, set, go!
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