I Keep Losing Weight But it Keeps Finding me!

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

“Being thin”. Those are themagic words every overweight person wants to hear.

I am no different! For over35 years now the one mission I have been trying to accomplish has been toachieve that magic weight – a mission that has led me on a holy grail quest allaround Mumbai, to every dietician’s chamber. And what do I learn at the end ofit? Surprise surprise – they ALL have a different path for me to follow to “becomethin”.

So, while one argued that I should definitely give up meat, another arguedfor the redundancy of milk and milk products. Yet another dismissed fruits fromthe diet charts. Almost all of them though unanimously agreed that I shouldgive up sugar and oil.

What did I learn at the end of it, therefore? “Youshould give up all you love to eat if you want to be thin”. This got methinking – if I have to give up eating all that I love then what is the pointof living. Right? I can almost see all of you nodding in agreement!

So I had to achieve theseemingly impossible: to be able to eat all that I love – especially the sweetstuff – and still “be thin”.  I began by telling myself: “junk “ the dietsbut not the goodies (insert appropriate emoticonwith a wink and the tongue salivating and you’ve got the message).

I must confess here thatdeep within my heart I knew I had to arrive at a workable compromise. Because “beingthin” might be my goal but “staying thin” – now THAT’S my dream. Phew – is ittough, tough, mighty tough. How do I know? Because I’ve made 10 – yes that’sright – 10 such attempts over the past 35 years and still counting.

So let me take you through this journey that I’dlike to call – “Being Thin ... on the Quest for a Magician (aka, dietician)“.Wait a while, take a break and over the next few weeks, you’ll read a lot moreof my – let’s call them “attempts” – to find the perfect dietician and that ever-elusive PERFECT DIET! Good luck to you and me!

(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!)