Fighting Fit

We all begin our letters with these standard lines, "hope this letter of mine finds in you in the best of health and spirits", don’t we?! Amazing that we expect every one across the seven seas (people who excel in geography may disagree with me on that!) to remain fit despite their diverse eating habits and life-styles. So how do you define fitness, a state of well being, a state of mind or a way of life?

There are some who believe that fitness is to the body what heart is to breathing. For others it’s more with a scientific value that you add on to your soul. With diets and e-diets mushrooming galore, it’s quite likely that while you reduce, you may or may not achieve the fitness, you’re looking for, when you initiated the regime. So how do you go about becoming fit? Some retort to pills, others restrain their footsteps, stopping by the latest gym that promises to you to be in your best physique in a matter of months. Still others give in to their deepest thoughts in trying out those earrings; yes, believe it or not, ear rings to loose weight!

Weight loss is a hot issue today with almost everybody trying out everything under the sun to get rid of that extra flab. Dieticians and weight-loss programs across the world today claim and zero in at the same logic. That the secret of losing weight is not popping pills, but two of the most important things, ‘Discipline’ and ‘Determination’. Generally, when you visit the gym, a good gym that is, you tend to be shown a string of expansive lists, that are ‘oh-so-important for those biscuits’ to be seen on your torso. That apart, what falls in next is the ardent need for a trainer, because if you don’t have a trainer, you might be able to reduce (for a while) but not keep it up. So there goes another bunch of greens, all for losing those carefully mounted pounds that you have so painstakingly gathered over parties and functions.

But that’s not all, after that enthusiastic start, the tough part is keeping up to it. And of course we all know that perseverance was not everyone’s ball game, so sore as you might feel at the end of a month, or even two months for that matter, you rarely get to see the end of tunnel. So what do you really need to do, you may ask? The usual warm limejuice in honey, frustrating hours of boring cardio vascular exercises…. Is that what the mundane task of weight reduction all about…I think not…Like I said earlier, exercise needs the 2 D’s, discipline and determination. If you can chart out a regime, that’s disciplined and fun too, (I know its too much to ask for!) you might just be able to burn out those extra pounds and be raring to go for a few stones more.

So how do you start? Well, to begin with you start with the most important but scary part, weighing yourself!!…Someday you had to do it right!!………And after that nightmare, you may proceed in jotting down a number of things that make you happy…yes we are talking on the lines of a health plan, and as achieving your goal is important, its also important to understand that while you get there, there may be a zillion ways to make the journey as interesting as possible too…. I chose a variety of things to start head along, from aerobics, to simple dancing to any of my favourite numbers, to slope walking to just doing sit ups while your having a bath (saves time actually when you’re getting late for work!!!) to just plain simple breathing exercises while you’re wracking your brains to write that important e-mail to a customer, while at work. The key to all this is constant perseverance coupled with variation.

Despite your diverse life style, the important thing is to persevere. A good idea according to me is to question your food. Psychologists all over the universe agree, that obesity, stress or any other medical condition for that matter, is always first related to the mind before it affects your body. So if you question your food, (it might sound weird in a situation where you might get caught questioning inanimate food items), you would automatically get answers to questions that might not please you in your endeavour to lose weight, ultimately making you drop the idea. And because it doesn’t end there, a few extra pieces of that pastry may land you spending a few more hours in your blessed gym, so take your pick!

What I normally find fascinating is dancing to any of your favourite tunes, which does not restrict you to a particular exercise regime. I mean you enjoy swinging yourself to the music and lose a lot of sweat as well as those unwanted calories…Then there this that favourite question of. …"Well, it’s also in my genes you know, I may not be able to lose as much as you would." Well, right and wrong, we might not be able to tamper with nature’s gifts, but we can with some research and soul-searching agree on our favourite times to exercise and lose weight. The bottom line, (however, ugly, that might be, in both senses) remains the bottom line, and the leaner it may be, the better you tend to feel…

So whether its Levis, Lee or Pepe, genes don’t matter much, it’s the two D’s that finally form the last D…. That of Destiny!!