A New Year, New You: Vandana Malik’s Weight Loss Battle, Episode 2

Vandana Malik has tried every trick in the book – losing some and gaining some (weight).

(In the week, and in fact, many weeks following the Christmas/New Year’s binge, if there’s ONE resolution you fervently take, it is to lose weight. This will be the week. Month... year.... But we shall do it! The Quint would like to help you in your pursuit and to let you know that it's okay if you face stumbling blocks along the way. In that context, here’s republishing Vandana Malik’s weight loss battles from our archives – a woman who attempted every fad diet in the book and made discoveries she never thought she would.)

Okay, thus began my penance for ‘Being Greedy’ – no sugar, no wheat, no flour, no wheat, no flour, no salt, no chocolates, no fruits, no milk or milk products, and a new addition, no alcohol. Only vegetables and fish. Gasp!

My ‘Pompet’ Pinch

Really? Are you serious! How can you do this to yourself? These were the thoughts I was battling when I was about to take my culinary sanyaas (emoticon tears rolling down the face).

But my worst enemy – the weighing scale (which has been haunting me for 35 years) – was starting to give me nightmares, showing me a dreadful result every time I stepped on it. So I took a deep breath and succumbed to the Pomphret diet, or the ‘Pompet’ diet as my maid would say. The ‘damn it, no food’ diet involved eating grilled fish and boiled vegetables for breakfast, lunch and dinner every single day (slight exaggeration, but what the heck!); this, coupled with 50 minutes of brisk walk and 30 minutes of light weight training. This was my sad saga for almost eight months.

Finally, no Longer a ‘Heavyweight’

Slowly and steadily, the scale started tumbling like the stock market – from 67 to 65, to 62, to 58. Woah, wait, 54 (insert several dancing red women emoticons)! Mission accomplished for the second time in 15 years – not bad na? What wondrous joy it was! The only downside – I never ate pompet again. But that was a small price to pay for losing 15 big kilos.

A Calorie Lost is a Calorie Gained (Story of my Life)

Kicked about my new body, I promise myself that this time my ideal weight would be for keeps. But the next second the gremlin inside me starts acting up and tempts me to celebrate losing those 15 mammoth kilos. Because losing that much weight in a lifetime, and that too twice, is no mean feat. It’s a winner’s tale; a champion’s saga.

And so, putting high heels and my choicest black pants on, I set out to party. Bring on the white wine, I say. “And bring on the chole bhature (I am a panju, just so you know) and the Toblerons – today I won’t be a calorie-Nazi!”

Cut to six months later – my evil weighing machine and I are face to face again. The scale mockingly sneers at me, “56 kgs, Vandana! You should have thought before eating those greasy chole bathure”.

Okay, I comfort  myself – it’s just two kgs yaar! “If I can lose 15 kgs, I can surely lose two.”

Was I able to? Find out next week. Till then, work on your willpower to resist food that makes you fat. Eat healthy and stay fit.

(Vandana Malik will be writing in with what she calls a new weight loss “attempt” every week for readers of The Quint. Watch this space for more!)

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