When you are overweight, it not only impacts your physical health but also heavily affects your mental wellbeing. When 29-year-old Shihab realised that all the extra kilos were impacting his self-confidence, he decided to bring about the necessary changes to get back in shape. In a span of just 4 months, he lost a whopping 28 kilos by adopting a healthy lifestyle and joining the WFH program. Here is his weight loss journey.
The reason that Motivates weight loss
When you are overweight, you are constantly self-conscious because everyone makes you feel different. You're absolutely terrified to go to social gatherings because you don't want to draw unnecessary attention to yourself.
All the taunts and unsolicited comments further bring down your morale. Hence, I decided one day that this is not the life I wanted to lead. I wanted to become a confident and healthy person, so I decided to work in that direction. It was certainly not easy, but definitely worth it. Around the same time, my cousin's husband told me about an affordable and effective weight loss app WFH. So without giving any second thought I enrolled myself in WFH.
What is the most difficult part about being overweight?
It was definitely the taunts and unsolicited comments of relatives, who never asked for free advice from any random persons. It had left me feeling unmotivated and depressed. Plus I was facing many health issues like constant body pain and joint pain. Due to my excess weight, I was always lethargic and lazy.
Starting Phase and procedure of transformation journey
In the beginning, I calculated my Body Mass Index (BMI), based on the height, height, weight and age required by BMI. WFH app then calculates your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), which estimates how many calories you consume each day, taking your physical activity into account throughout the day. And you calculate how many calories you should have taken to work and lose that extra fat to achieve your goal. It recommends your calorie intake based on all these calculations.
Diet followed
All of my meals were calculated based on my BMI and TDEE. My meals look the same the majority of the time. Breakfast consisted of a bowl of oats with milk, lunch consisted of 2 chapatis with 1 bowl of dal and a portion of salad, and dinner was of 3-4 boiled egg whites. WFH dietician recommended a list of foods to eat before and after workouts because I worked out most of the week. Pre-workout snack: 2 slices brown bread with 2 tablespoons peanut butter 10 almonds, 10 walnuts, and coconut water as a post-workout snack
Because all of the meals were very specific about calorie calculations and ingredients measurements. I got spoons as a welcome gift from WFH after I registered. The spoons were color-coded, and all I had to do was follow the app's instructions.
Workout Followed to achieve the goal
Workout routines were very simple to follow with WFH; they scheduled my daily workout goal and gave me a list of exercises to do. My workout routine has been divided as follows by the WFH team: on Monday (Chest and Abs) on Tuesday (Back) on Wednesday (Biceps and Sides) on Thursday (Shoulders) Friday (Triceps + Abdominals) on Saturday (Legs) and rest on Sunday. All of these workouts were linked to live video tutorials, and all you had to do was follow the coach. That helped me in performing proper exercise in proper posture, as well as WFH coach motivated me to complete my daily targeted set
What difficulties were you facing during the transformation journey?
I work as an event organizer, so going to events and eating out is a big part of my life. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to stick to my diet or not. The WFH Dietician designed the diet so that I could enjoy the event while still maintaining my daily calorie intake. WFH's dieticians created meal plans for me that were specific to my goals, food preferences, and daily routine. Their suggested diet plan was feasible, practical, and easy to follow, and it avoided expensive items that would not normally be allowed in the diet, allowing me to stick to the plan and achieve the best results.
How do you stay motivated?
I absolutely love my new lifestyle and I will do everything in my power to stay in the same shape. The support of my parents, friends and WFH team kept me going. Taunts of certain friends also worked as a source of motivation for me as I continued to work on my dream of becoming fit from fat.
What lifestyle changes did you make?
Changing a whole way of life was difficult, and working out for most of the week was nearly impossible for me. However, WFH's enjoyable Zumba workouts and educational training programmes made me realise how much my body requires those exercises. And it kept me going, so I switched from no-day exercise to daily exercise.
Lessons learnt from the transformation
A healthy diet and regular exercise are non-negotiable components of your weight loss journey. Instead of comparing yourself to others and becoming demotivated, always focus on your own goals. Most importantly, work as hard as you can on your weight-loss journey; you won't be sorry.
