It's all in the mind

So, a couple of months back I decided to get back in shape (not that round is not a shape*). Not being sure I would be able to gym regularly since I was traveling a lot (and also feeling lazy), I decided instead to focus on what I'm eating. I had bought Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Body some time back, and liked what I had read, so decided to try out the Slow Carb Diet he recommends. I won't be going through the specifics of the diet here (many resources available on the net, for example summary here), and while it worked wonders for me, I'm not recommending it over other diets since I have no clue. But here is what I've learnt over the last couple of months.

It's all in the mind
It's not like I haven't considered dieting or getting back in shape before, it's not like I didn't know about the benefits (cosmetic as well as internal), it's not like I haven't tried before, it's just that something inside told me I wanna/gotta do it *period*. Maybe that something was knowing that I would be meeting family in a month or so, maybe it was not wanting to look at an Indian Belly^TM every morning in the mirror, maybe it was a combination of several factors, I haven't figured out yet. However, once my mind was made up, I was stubborn about doing it right, no exceptions. Mind you, the Slow Carb Diet is not an easy one to follow, especially for us Indians since it cuts out all roti, rice, bread, sugar, milk and fruits. But I did it continuously for three weeks, even though I was traveling and sometimes did not have access to foods of my choice, and lost 4.5 kgs in the process. So here is what I learnt:

• It's all in the mind - You cannot get back in shape unless you really want to and are willing to take the pain for it. So I recommend that instead of trying when your heart is not really into it and then failing and then feeling guilty and then binge-eating because of the guilt, do it only when you're ready. If you're not ready, it's impossible; if you're ready, you will do it.
• Stay the course - Once you've made up your mind, stay the course. No cheating on a 'little bit' of sugar, or 'one bite' of bread. Once you start cheating, you rationalise every cheat and it's downhill from there on. During my travels, client dinners, etc., I stayed the course - it is a big motivational boost in itself. Also, the diet recommends one cheat day a week, which helped since I had a reward to look forward to for being good during the week (mind you, once you start eating healthy, you can't eat too much of unhealthy foods no matter how much you like them!). 
• Cravings - Related to the point above, you will have cravings, and what I've learnt about cravings is that they disappear after a few minutes (yes, just a few minutes). So, when you have a craving:
• Notice the craving, acknowledge it, even say it out loud if you want, but don't act on it knowing that it will pass in a few minutes (I'm going all Buddhist now!). Acknowledging a craving made it easier for me than beating myself up for craving sugar.
• Distract yourself - You can either focus on the craving and add fuel to the fire, or distract yourself with something else and make it go away.
• Publicise - Another trick related to staying the course that I had read about and employed was to publicise that you're doing a diet/exercise regimen/whatever else you're doing. I told my family and my colleagues that I had started a diet and that it was so great, etc. Publicising it forces you to stay the course when your resolve wavers for the fear of losing face or being made fun of. It is a powerful motivator!
• Do it together - Related to publicising is to do the diet along with someone rather than alone, so you can keep motivating each other. As an example, when I started running regularly back in 2010, it was because I was running with a colleague. Even though we both worked long hours, we lived in the same building complex and would come back home together (sometimes at 10pm) and just say to each other, "see you downstairs in 5 mins". Having another person involved motivates you and also makes you feel more responsible.
• Measure progress - Having a goal, and measuring against it (in my case checking my weight and the size of my belly every morning) helped immensely. When you're making progress and you can measure it, it motivates you to 'Keep Walking'. As Peter Drucker said, "What gets measured gets managed".
• Will power - One of the most insightful statements I've read was in a book by Dan John some time back is that we have only a certain amount of will power every day, and so we should use it wisely. Looking back, I was able to stick with the plan because (i) my work load was much lesser than what it has been for the last 4 years, (ii)  I decided not to overdo it and so did not add working out also to my regimen, (iii) I created a process/routine around many things so I would not have to apply my brain too much to it - so for e.g. boiling eggs the previous night itself, squeezing many lemons (for the lemon water I had every morning) at one go and storing the juice in a bottle, eatings the same foods that worked for me again and again rather than trying to create/buy something new every day, etc. I believe different people have different levels of will power, but know how much you have and use it wisely (i.e. don't use all of the week's will power in one day).

All of the above helped me in the course of my diet. However, retaining the benefits of a diet plan/exercise regimen is a whole different ball game (we've all been there, I guess). In my next post, I'll write down my thoughts on how I plan to not go back to square one.

* My blog will be littered with old and bad jokes, deal with it!