The Decision that Changed My Life.

The score was 8 Kg, I had hit the plateau and was struggling to lose more fat but the indifferent nature of the trainers didn't help me much, so I quit the gym and started working out at home and that decision changed my life. So what did I do after quitting the gym? How did that decision change my life? Why did I quit the gym knowing that I won't be able to access the equipment?

The Answer 

To put it in simple words, I thought I could do this better if no one is there to boss around. I thought how cool would it be to make a comeback and astonish everyone in the gym with my transformation. I bought a pair of dumbells with adjustable weights, a pair of push up bars, borrowed a barbell with some heavyweights from my friend and used an iron stand in place of a pull-up bar. 

Now, I had all the things I needed to get started. With the help of the equipment, I trained every muscle in my body and after each of my workouts, I ran, I ran a lot (well, except for the leg day). I killed the two-hour workout 5 times a week along with drinking lots of water, getting proper rest and avoiding junk food.

The only thing that bothered me was the lack of proper nutrition. I knew I had to provide proper nutrients to my body, otherwise, I won't be able to transform the way I wanted. So, I fired up google and started reading only to find that it's tougher that I thought. With all those "so not tasty and but healthy foods" I wasn't sure how long would I be able to stay on track. I really wanted to transform myself but google had dropped a bomb on me and got me thinking twice before I implemented the "diet factor" in my schedule. Then I remembered the famous saying, "It doest matter how slow you go as long as you don't stop", and I knew that the only way to achieve it is to take baby steps and introduce the harsh changes to my life slowly so that I could get used to them. I replaced my regular breakfast with oatmeal but kept the rest of my meals intact. Week after week I changed them all and now, well, they changed me. Every month I was getting better and I could now see my goal very clearly.  I was now stronger, faster, and energetic. My double chin had disappeared and my belly was well within the boundaries. People praised me, it felt really good but I wasn't done. For me the ultimate goal was to achieve a single digit body fat percentage and gain some lean muscle mass. While I have some lean muscle mass I am yet to attain a single digit body fat percentage. I currently have around 12-14% body fat. I got this far and I will get there eventually.  

BUT

Almost every story has a "BUT", mine has too.
I didn't see it coming. My family, relatives, neighbours started to lecture me on diet. Some told me that if I don't eat good food, (and by good food they meant regular food that made me an elephant in the first place), I won't have any stamina left inside me when I'm old. I obviously knew it was other way around, that if I keep eating the so-called regular food I won't have any stamina and strength when I'm old. But it got only harder to convince them. They had these centuries-old beliefs and it's next to impossible to make them think otherwise. Do not even get me started on supplements, they hear the word "supplement" and some defensive mechanism is automatically activated in them which tells them that supplements are the end of the world. 
This is exactly why a majority of people can't get fit. People tend to give free pieces of advice on subjects they don't have complete knowledge of but they believe whatever it is that they know, can't be wrong. People take their advice and pass that onto others and that's how this chain of misbelief is made. They keep on doing what they are told and end up without results feeling helpless.
It wasn't easy to make them understand that what I was doing would benefit me in a number of ways. Beliefs are dangerous, they close your mind and you can't ever fully believe in something other than your own belief. Just because you know it doesn't mean it's true and it will benefit you. I have seen some people defending their beliefs on baseless arguments. I don't get into altercations with them but I do get surprised sometimes because out of the two of us, I am the one with results. They often ask me how did I do it but the second I try to tell them about nutrition, the think I am lying or I am misguided because how the hell could peanuts help me lose weight given that they are 50% fat? It's a very old belief that if you wanna manage your weight, stay away from peanuts. So, how can I now convince them that till now whatever you heard about peanuts is wrong, and it's actually the other way around?
I run into such people quite frequently, I still try to educate them but it's a long way as beliefs are not shaken in a day. Many people are impressed with my results and they now take my advice seriously but there are other people too, who still can't believe me. The only thing that bothers me is that there are millions of people out there who are trapped in beliefs and spoiling their health. They want to get fit but their beliefs come in their way. I want to reach out to them and request them to have an open mind and for once, try to do things differently. Everybody wants a change but not everybody wants to change. You can't have it both ways.

So that was my story, my journey is still not complete, my goals keep getting bigger. I changed my life in a way no one would have imagined. With great knowledge of nutrition, I can never fall prey to several partially true beliefs and I can never deviate from my path. Once you get the taste of fitness, you don't wanna go back to your old life. Had I continued the gym, I would have lost some more kilos only to gain them back in future because, without the knowledge of nutrition, there is no permanent fitness and there is no consistency. People don't join the gym for their entire life, they either want to lose weight for some occasion or they are youngsters who are likely to quit the gym as soon as they get a job or they get married. Fitness has always been about the gym for these people and not about the nutrition, that is why these days most of the people cannot stay fit for a long period of time. Always remember one thing, unless you are in the fitness industry, there is no way for you to continue your gym throughout your life. But that doesn't mean you can't stay fit for the rest of your life. Fitness is all about what you eat and not about the gym. I haven't been working out for 2 months, but I didn't lose my muscle mass, I didn't gain any fat, I have been eating all the right foods and my weight is intact. Now I will soon resume my home workouts and maybe join the gym next year.

Give your body a second chance, this time try to shift your focus to your diet and you will the see results you crave.

I would be happy to help anyone who wants to know anything regarding fitness. I am not perfect but I might just be able to give you what you need.