Focus On Your Health, Not Your Weight

On By MeghaIn Weight-loss

If you are wondering I am about to share a slimming secret or the recipe of a concoction that’ll magically transform your physical self, to someone you’ve seen in the fashion magazine, let me clear it right now.

No, I am not.

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Like countless other people, I too am over-weight.

I feel no shame in acknowledging this fact and neither am I ashamed of being so.

As I confessed earlier I am a die-hard foodie and that does make losing weight a wee bit difficult. But it’s been long since I have stopped giving excuses for those extra pounds.

To others as well as to myself.

It isn’t easy and it doesn’t come with age, it’s all in our minds.

Though it takes hard work to understand, that making excuses about your weight issues does no good to your performance on the scales or to your ego for that matter.

I have an average height, which is sometimes considered a little more than the Indian average. My friends believe this is what actually gives me the edge.

My friends over the years have often said, “Teri body se tere weight ka pata nahin chalta!” [it’s tough to make out your weight from your physical appearance.]

All this doesn’t change the underlying fact, that I am over-weight.

The good news is, I come from a health conscious family. Exercising has been a part of my life from the start.

Cycling is my all time favorite. Though I have been an early riser and a morning walker since I was a little girl (when I used to go for a walk during school holidays and even with life in the hostel during university years).

This exercising habit is now an inseparable part of my existence. This doesn’t mean I haven’t had spans of fluctuations on the weighing scale. But there has been something major that kept me calm and going all along.

We always had regular medical check-ups for the whole family to assess the overall health of every member. This also included a thorough check of the blood chemistry (that includes hemoglobin, cholesterol, triglycerides, the lipid profile, etc.).

The regular exercising has not only kept my blood chemistry stay in excellent state but also has had many life-changing impacts on my overall cardio-pulmonary health status (implying the general health of the heart and the lungs).

As laymen, we never bother beyond what the weighing scales have to say and how good we look in the dress of our choice. The rest is left to be a worry when we grow old. That is the thinking that needs to change before it is too late.

I personally know at least five such people, who were lean and thin all their lives, never exercised for they had no weight issues ever, but landed up with heart attacks and other fatal diseases of the heart and lungs only because they had never bothered about exercising and never had health checks done.

Weight is surely an important indicator of our overall health but not the sole one.

We very often ignore the need to exercise if we can manage our weight issues with a little dietary control. This can also look like a fortnight or month of strict dieting or successfully manage squirming in a fit dress after a month’s intake of green tea.

This mentality has to change.

I had severe complications during my pregnancy, that forced me to go for a strict eight-month bed-rest. At this crucial point in my life, the years of exercising I had done came to my rescue. My cardio-pulmonary status was very good, that’s why I managed to survive that extreme phase to be able to write this post today.

The bottom-line, without going into any medical details of the advantages of exercising or why we don’t lose weight despite exercising all the time is;

The rewards are life-changing and many times life-saving.

Regular exercise offers incredible benefits that can improve nearly every aspect of your health from the inside out. Here's why you should focus on your health, not your weight. #theerailivedin #fitness #regularexercise #benefitsofexercise #health

So giving up that sleep in the cozy winter mornings or leaving that favorite TV show for a run on the treadmill or giving up the urge for blogging instead of cycling for you haven’t updated your blog in a while is definitely worth it.

Though I can’t resist the temptation to add, that regular exercise does make your skin glow, helps your body look fitter, and works like a charm on your mood and positive outlook towards life.

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Are you ready to create next-level results in becoming your leaner, healthier and calmer self?  

I want to invite you to join my Be Healthy Be You program where you’re going to lose weight, be done with the struggle and know exactly how to maintain and enjoy those results with unapologetic confidence. It’s time to stop dreaming about the results you want and start enjoying them.

If you’re at the start of your weight loss journey, begin with the strategies that have helped lose 60 pounds and that I teach my coaching clients to achieve sustainable results. Take the FREE Weight Loss Ownership Course.

35 thoughts on “Focus On Your Health, Not Your Weight”

  1. So, does walking for half an hour daily count for exercising? That’s what I do these days. I have been thinking about cycling but am too lazy to go buy a cycle. There is one more advantage of regular exercising – Our stamina increases. Its quite obvious even with the little amount of exercise I do!

    Destination Infinity

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    1. Yep, stamina gets better with exercising… off course every effort counts, so stick to your morning walks in the meantime you can definitely add other forms of exercises to your regimen 😀

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  2. Cant agree more.. I am experiencing them in recent days.. All I wish is that I continue with my current routine all my life.. morning walk is definitely a booster to start the day..

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  3. Bikram

    🙂 ah bless someone who thinks my way .. I think too the same way .. I use to be mad about gym 6am to 8am each day was gym time .. weights and all that stuff .. but then i love food too and if someone asks me to diet and exercise to lose weight well I CANT 🙂

    so now i exercise run and all , play sports and eat what i want ot when i want to ..

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  4. Oh, the benefits of exercising are innumerable!! I stopped exercising when I came to the US to do my masters and the 3 years of not exercising played havoc on my health (weight gain, bad skin, low resistance). But thankfully, I woke up and started exercising and got back my good ol’ health back :). Some residual weight is still lingering from those 3 years, but it will go off in its own time 😉

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  5. What a coincidence. I have 2 draft post talking about calories, diet and exercises to be posted over the next few days!
    I’m health conscious person, and active person (or should I say restless). I can’t sit in a place for more time! Exercise is very vital for anyone and need not be a proper threadmill or tumbles! It can be activities and slight stretching exercises which could do wonders!
    Do you still cycle? I am very bad cyclist!

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    1. I agree, exercising needent be in a gym or on set equipment, till it actually happens 😀
      Glad to know you are an active soul 😀 😀
      Well the answer to your question is yes, I still cycle. In fact I last cycled around an hour back 😀 😀

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  6. Agree with you 100 %. And I would like to add to it don’t diet to lose weight, rather eat right to stay healthy. A healthy lifestyle goes a long way in preventing a lot of diseases. I guess I’ll do a post on it soon 🙂

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  9. yep I agree with you….but I also follow a more balanced and healthy eating style (not saying diets but not the traditional indian way either) because of my medical history…

    and the result is that my Endocrinologist, physician and Ob-Gyn are impressed with my progress…I got to share my tips with other patients too….
    all this makes me happy and keeps me motivated 🙂

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  10. When I finished my TYBA in India, I joined the gym and in 9 months lost about 15 kilos…went from being overweight to a tad underweight. Coming to Aus soon after made me put on about a bit and more so after I finished my masters and was depressed at not being able to find a job soon. Hence, comfort eating and zilch exercise. I’ve intermittently exercised when not at a gym but it never really lasted. In Nov 2010, my mum…one of the healthiest people in the family who walks 6 days a week for 30 mins and eats well…had to undergo a bypass surgery after finding three or four blocks in her heart. This despite not having any cholesterol problems. Apparently, there is a genetic thing on her side of the family in terms of the heart muscles or the width of the arteries. I think that was a wake up call for me and i joined the gym in April last year. I don’t overdo it but I do attempt to go 3 to 4 times a week and eat healthy. Doesn’t mean I don’t indulge occasionally as I am a foodie too! Oh…and it definitely is great for the mood!!!

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  12. yes, exercise is a necessity irrespective of the weight. A whole lot of benefits are to be reaped by being fit, and being in the right weight frame is just one of them.

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  13. Errr…so I have people telling me since I was a kiddo that I look from the ‘khate peete khandaan’ and now I wear tents around me to camouflage the extra pounds…three years since R’s birth and still carry the birth weight around….I HAVE to lose weight seriously!!! thanks for the exercise post…I am going to start NOW!!!

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  16. Try “Dont lose your mind, lose your weight” book… it makes losing weight sound so much simpler… it probably is and I need to start on it rightaway!!

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  18. Good piece of info 🙂

    I need to think seriously about exercise. As you mentioned in this post, I have not really bothered to exercise as I have been very thin all my life. Now, I have started putting on weight and I am getting a bit apprehensive 😦

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