Weight loss is not rocket science… It is simple mathematics. If you use more than you put in you will have a loss… Simple as can be. Yeah, right!!!

It is really not that simple. Not in the face of that beautiful piece of chocolate cake, or that one last gulab jammun or even that stunningly thin, perfectly golden french fry… How can it ever be easy?

But then who said it was easy, only simple. Consume less than you burn and you will lose weight. The problem is most of us tend to focus on only one half of that equation, the consumption. We try to consume lesser and lesser food, till we seem to survive only on hope and air. But hope and air can only take you so far. With air will come tantalizing whiffs of food. All those amazing things you deny yourself and hope will convince you, ‘this one time won’t really hurt.’ And there you have failed. Yet again.

I am not saying exercise like crazy and you can eat all you want. No definitely not. That is not healthy either. You can’t fill up on junk and expect exercise to magically convert it into nutrition. And excessive exercise is the surest and shortest way to injury. Injury means a break in exercise, but not necessarily the eating. So there is yet another fail.

Just dieting or just exercising will never ever work. You will keep failing. Worse you will get on the weight loss – weight gain yo-yo cycle and mess up your systems.

In an ideal situation you would eat all the right things and exercise 6 days a week, mixing cardio and conditioning exercises. But then in an ideal situation you would not have piled on all that weight.

So the trick is to exercise as much as you can, without hurting yourself and eating mostly healthy food. Work with a professional and create a workout program you like and more importantly can follow.

The internet is wonderful resource, use it to your benefit. Do not just follow the latest diet, create one for yourself. Find out which foods are healthy and when is the best time frame to consume them. Take this information and plan your meals to fit your schedule. Occasional slip ups will happen and are okay, but quickly get back with the plan. 

But be prepared to be in it for the long haul. This is not a quick fix. You are not going to have a flat abs for this weekend’s party. Maybe at a party a month later or six months later or even a year later, depending on how many layers you have piled on, someone will say, ‘You have lost some weight, haven’t you?’

Keep at it one day at a time you will get there. I did.