Bakhim to HMI base camp via Dzongri

Even with the cold wind coming in from broken panes, I slept peacefully - the institute issued down sleeping bag was amazingly warm. However, I woke up earlier than usual because there were no closed loos here at Bakhim for either gender - just two separate yellow flag areas. Considering I had never used the natural open surroundings for my morning ablutions, I wanted to get out there before rest of the crowd woke up. So I stepped out with a head lamp and an ice axe. Former because it was completely dark outside and latter because the protocol is to dig a hole, do your business and cover it up! Digging holes at 4 am in pitch dark with shivering hands...what had I signed up for!!!

~11000 ft. End point of acclimatization hike from Bakhim

Today was the acclimatization hike on the same route that we would take tomorrow to Dzongri. We started at 8 am and reached the end point of today's hike (~11,000 ft high) by 10:15 am or so. We didn't have our backpacks on and the terrain was pretty flat but it still left me breathless.  I started to worry even more about the next day's hike. If without backpack, on the easier half of the trail, I was so tired and breathless, how would I manage the whole hike with 12 kilo backpack the next day?

We came back to Bakhim around 12:30 pm or so, had lunch and attended a class out in the open. By the time we finished the class my anxiety over next day's hike had reached new levels. The last 2 hours of hike from Yuksom to Bakhim had shook my confidence completely. I was just looking for another person to say that s/he will go back and I would have joined him/her. In the meanwhile, an interesting thing happened - I noticed that one of the American girls was carrying the boots on her own. Women had the discount on same - our boots were 'shipped' to base camp using the yaks. When I asked her for the reason, she said she wanted to make the hike count...I told her, carry my bag too if that would help your cause :)

Anyway, I made a deal with her - since she was finding it tough to carry the boots - that I will get the boots offloaded to the yaks and she can carry a portion of the load reduced for me instead. It took some work on my part and her part but the instructors finally relented. And that's how she and I both lightened our loads a bit.

Dzongri - women accomodations, kitchen & a shop

Next day, with this lighter backpack and armed with a precautionary pain killer (a suggestion from my Czech friend), I got ready for the toughest day of our hike - 11 km from Bakhim (~9000 ft) to Dzongri (~13,200ft). I don't know what it was - lighter backpack, painkiller, or the half day rest that we got on the acclimatization day or simply that I could get some breakfast inside me - but I was amongst the first quartile to reach the destination for the day. It wasn't easy - after all we climbed 4000 ft in one day - even without any backpack it's a really tough hike but I didn't feel close to dying as I did on way to Bakhim. I was elated at having made it without incident because we were told that last day's hike isn't too tough.

Acclimatization hike from Dzongri

In the evening, post lunch we went for a short acclimatization hike to about 14000 ft of height. Both the altitude and the approaching winter had made the weather really cold. The exhaustion hit me after this acclimatization hike and I crashed pretty early without dinner. The accommodations for women were again wooden quarters (limited space but warmer than tents) and men were again in tents.

On the last and final day of the hike, we were all very excited about the hike as we would get to see the base camp - our home for next 8 days. The first 2 hours of this 13 km trail were not too bad in terms of terrain but the altitude gain definitely started to cause problems - air got thinner and weather got colder. We first had to gain 1500 ft to Dzongri La (14,500 ft), lose almost all it and gain some more - the destination for the day being HMI base camp at height of 14,600 ft. So while net gain was 1400 ft, gross climb would still be close to 3000 ft - not an easy task given a tough hike the previous day plus acclimatization hike and limited rest.

On way to Dzongri La, I got to meet Jamling Tenzing Norgay - son of Tenzing Norgay and author of "Touching My Father's Soul: A Sherpa's Journey to the Top of Everest". We exchanged pleasantries and he thanked me for reading his book! Given I had missed him when he had visited our camp at Bakhim, I was more than delighted to have run into him here.

 

Weather started to worsen as soon as we left Dzongri

The weather continued to worsen and half way into the hike, the snowfall began - we were cold and tired and journey seemed endless. Again around 1 pm, I hit my wall - I was completely devoid of energy as I hadn't had dinner the previous night and the breakfast just wasn't enough to keep me going from 7 am to 3 pm in this cold weather. Instructors sensed frailty of our minds and tiredness of our bodies - they kept pushing us by saying that base camp is just 20 minutes away.

Around 2:20 pm, we were greeted by advanced course students, who had come down to help us. At first, I refused the offer of having my bag carried by an advanced course student thinking that we are there, but then I learnt that we are still "20 minutes away" and I almost broke into tears when another student offered to carry the bag. Gratefully, I handed her my bag and followed her to the base camp.

 

Finally, at 3 pm I reached the base camp - I had completed the toughest hike of my life so far with atleast 10 kg on back at any given point of time. Of course, I had help - a lot of help - both in form of motivation and in form of actual help in carrying the load.

 

But even with that help, there were numerous occasions where I would ask myself, "this is real suffering, why are you doing it? you are the oldest in the batch, 10 people - some of them less than half your age have turned back, why are you still at it?"

 

There were many times when I had to focus hard on just putting one foot in front of another. There were multiple moments when I wouldn't take off my backpack to rest, for the fear that I won't be able to lift it again. In spite of all this - I made it to the base camp. No it wasn't to prove any point - I was ready to go back on day 1 itself - I think it was because at some level, universe conspired for it to happen. I got help whenever I needed it - mostly without even me asking. It had to happen - my love for mountain made me overcome all physical and mental hurdles and complete this really tough hike.

Trek Map - from Dzongri we took left trail to HMI base camp,
the right route one is part of the famous Goechala trek

Darjeeling to Bakhim via Yuksom

There was no PT on the morning of 26th Oct but we still woke up early to review our packing list one last time. Today we were to leave the warm confines of our hostel and start the 5 day long journey to HMI Base Camp. Today's destination was Yuksom (6000 ft) and the journey was to be made by road. We were all travelling in teams of 10 by Tata Sumos - 8 students crammed in the middle and last rows of the vehicle with one instructor and one driver in the front row.  The road was non existent, very dusty and the weather was actually hot - all this caused nausea in most of us...one of us actually fell sick just one hour into the journey.

A temple enroute to Yuksom

Entry to Sikkim requires permits that were pre arranged for everyone but we had quite a few foreigners in our batch and they had to report personally at the Melli check post. Some of us (yours truly included) had signed up to be part of the vehicles that carried foreigners as we had made friends with them. We assumed the early departure of these vehicles to be a good thing and never bothered to find out the real reason behind it. The real reason was that the check post stop at Melli actually made the route to Jorethang (our lunch halt) really long (almost double) as compared to the route vehicles carrying only Indian nationals undertook.

We had started earlier than the rest and reached Jorethang only at 12:30 pm or so...while the rest of the batch had been there since 11 am. They started for Yuksom as soon as we arrived into Jorethang. Rest of us grabbed  a quick bite and were on our way to Yuksom a little after 1 pm. The roads continued to be bad and dusty and by the time we reached the camp site for the night, we were totally exhausted also because we couldn't even move much due to lack of space. I was still recovering from the throat infection I had contracted while in Darjeeling, so I was feeling the worst of the lot.

Accommodations at Yuksom

There were two tents for 27 of us women and one loo. Men had more tents but no access to loo - a 'yellow flag' area was marked for them about 500 meters from where we camped. Everyone had grabbed their space and since our two vehicles were last, we had to struggle a bit to get into one of the tents (both tents' existing occupants kept telling us that there was no space). The dinner was served earlier than usual - yes we had support staff also travelling with us - they and the instructors would also undertake the arduous trek to HMI base camp over the next 4 days.
I could barely eat as the long journey over terrible roads in confined quarters coupled with my existing illness had made me really sick. There was not enough space in the tent as well, I had to actually get up at 2 am to leave the warm confines of the tent to get some fresh air as I was feeling terrible. I walked around for an hour and when I couldn't tolerate the cold any more, I went back into my sleeping bag.

We woke up at 5 am as we had an early start and before that the tents had to be packed as well. So we all packed our sleeping bags back into our backpacks, rolled the mats, hauled our asses out into the cold and started with taking down the tents. The breakfast was served at 6 am though I couldn't eat any and hence consulted with the course doctor travelling with us who gave me medication to help settle my stomach down. By 7 am we had our 'fall-in' where course director gave us another set of instructions for the hike.

Dog came with us from Yuksom to base camp

Today's agenda was to cover 13 km and gain 3000 ft from Yuksom  (~6000 ft) to Bakhim (~9000 ft). The Tiger Hill trek had given me a hint of what to expect when carrying 12 kilos on my back but our instructors had also warned us that in terms of terrain difficulty, that trail was not even 5% of what we would experience over these 4 days. We started the hike around 7:30 am or so - the start was slow and we were all handed some candy as we exited the camp site. Some of us were happy enough to sing songs as the initial part was mostly flat and then downhill towards a river crossing. My heart started to sink at the downhill part because anyone who has hiked knows that downhill is always followed by an even steeper uphill.

As expected, this was no exception and about 45 minutes into the hike, began our first ascent. Compared to the ascents we encountered later in the hike, this was honestly nothing but this was our first day of the hike and we all had slept poorly due to congested tents, hence most of us started to feel it. The singing stopped and some of us started to lag behind. Those who decided to halt were reprimanded by instructors. Apparently, you can take a break only when allowed to - otherwise you just keep walking. The breaks were only as long as the last set of hikers arrived and then would resume immediately. So if you were in the last batch, you never really caught a break - literally and figuratively!

Around 10:30 am we reached our 3rd or 4th bridge of the day. So far, I had managed to stay in the middle of the pack. Though we were barely half way into today's hike, my shoulders were already killing me. I started to wonder if I had bitten more than I could chew and after learning from instructors that the difficulty level of hike from Bakhim to Dzongri will be exponentially higher than today's I decided to turn back. I asked my Czech friend who was carrying my sleeping bag to exchange our bags back so that I could start the descent back - she laughed it off as a joke and told me that she wouldn't allow me to turn back. She made me give her more of my stuff to lighten my load and also asked a few others to help me. With my ice axe, my fleece, and couple of other items out of my backpack, I could feel it significantly lighter and decided to continue with the hike. This break was also a long one and helped the cause!

We resumed hike around 11 am. Initially the ascent wasn't too tough, but slowly it became steeper. Apparently, so far we had not gained much altitude - we had to gain 3000 ft today and the true ascent had begun just now and that was the reason for a long break. Till about noon, the pain in my shoulders didn't go up any further but I hit a wall in terms of energy. I hadn't had any dinner or breakfast, I had distributed the nuts I was carrying to reduce my load and now while I wasn't really hungry, I was really really tired. I asked folks for some snacks and with some fruits and some chocolate inside me I resumed the hike but honestly that wasn't enough.

By around 1 pm, the pain in my shoulders had become unbearable inspite of using my jacket to increase the padding between them and my backpack straps. The destination was atleast an hour away, the heat wasn't helping and instructors weren't happy with my inability to stay with the pack. While I wasn't really last, I was no longer in the middle of the pack either. At this point, I stopped thinking and just focused on putting one foot in front of another. An instructor helped me by talking about his mountaineering expeditions as conversing with him took my mind away from the pain.

Rest House at Bakhim

Finally around 2 pm, I reached Bakhim. Around 2/3rd of the batch was already there - support staff was preparing lunch, men were busy pitching the tents for their accommodations and women were asked if we would be willing to sleep in the first floor of the rest house with a big hole in the middle. The rest house had suffered during the earthquakes the region had experienced earlier that year. We all voted for the wooden rest house over tents and happily hauled our backpacks to first floor through a barely held rickety staircase with missing rungs.

Men's quarters at Bakhim

The lunch was served at 3 pm and I managed to eat a bit. The 'fall-in' at 4 pm was short - we were told that there will no class today as we must be tired and that we could rest instead. I happily went back to my sleeping bag - I had chosen a corner for myself that no one else wanted  - as it had two sets of windows with broken panes allowing cold air and had a big hole in the floor just where the mats ended. Giving me company in that corner were two American girls from my rope and my Czech friend. We preferred this nook because Bakhim was our stop for two nights and it was good to be in a corner where no one would walk/climb over your legs when you are sleeping.

Kitchen at Bakhim

 

I took a pain killer for my shoulder pain and continued to rest alone in that big hall while everyone else was out singing and having fun. I kind of liked this me time - 27 women cooped up in a room is a recipe for disaster and I wanted to get as much peaceful time as I could before the crazy dominated the atmosphere. For dinner, one of the American gals managed to score some bread for her and me as we were both still sick to eat regular food. Thus ended the day 1 of the tough hike I had heard and read so much about!

Week 1 at HMI

First week's schedule

The first 'fall in' of the batch was around 7 pm on the day we arrived. Around 80 of us gathered in the amphitheater arena and were given some basic instructions (which included a strict dress code of no shorts or open shoes outside hostel) by the course instructors and high level schedule of days at HMI Darjeeling. The detailed schedule was posted in the hostel anyway. 

The next day the tea bell rung at 5 am and after tea we all 'fell in' at 6 am in the amphitheater for our Physical Training. The advanced level course had also begun and they would usually start their PT about 15 minutes before us. After a short warm-up, we all started light jogging towards the main gate, which was all downhill and felt great. As soon as we exited the campus, it became uphill and within a few minutes I was totally out of breath  - given I can run 10 km in little over an hour, this must tell you how the thinner air affects our cardio performance. Of course quite a few folks including couple of my room mates, were amazingly fit and always stayed in front of this 80 member group that was jogging in files of twos. 

Mall road - part of our jogging route

To keep the group together, the instructors (yes they would train with us) would pause every 6-8 minutes and wait for laggards like me to catch up before resuming jogging. Thankfully I was usually in the middle of the pack so always got some rest in form of on-the-spot jogging or hopping.  Those who were last never got any because as soon as they would arrive the jogging would resume. After about 15 minutes we would reach a junction that was wide enough for us to stand in two circles and we would do some stretching and squatting exercises there for a few minutes. 

 

Post that we would continue onward and upward till we reached another junction where we would do body weight exercises like push ups and planks and core training. Yes we did all this in the middle of regular traffic junction that has typical tarred roads with dogs and morning walkers/joggers watching us. The loose gravel would hurt our palms and clothes would get really dirty but we couldn't complain - after all we had signed up for the course! After this set of exercises, the jog was mostly flat or downhill all the way to the campus gate. And then would come the tough part, now tired after a run at 7000 ft, we would be asked to sprint up 750 m long slope in sets of 5. Uphill and altitude always made things pretty tough and I always just walked or lightly jogged to the institute building.

 

Breakfast time

First day we were allowed to head back to our quarters and mess for breakfast after our run but subsequent days, the morning runs were usually followed by a power yoga class which was crazy in its own way. Breakfast (except on Tuesdays) included eggs in some form and bread and some vegetarian option (that I never noticed) and lots of very sweet tea (quite a few folks added more sugar to it).

The loos and bathrooms were common so bathing was always a scheduling exercise. First day I managed to take bath before the second 'fall in' only to find that it's useless because most days we would have activities in form of rock climbing or artificial wall climbing till at least lunch time and occasionally post lunch as well. Once I realized that, I started taking bath after completing all physical activities for the day. Bathing was a fun exercise in itself. Half the time water heater wouldn't work so we would all debate between taking cold shower and no shower. For me former mostly won but some folks waited a few days for the heater to get rectified (smart choice considering I actually fell sick after washing my hair with cold water)

 

At amphitheatre - having fun before 'fall-in'

First day after PT, we were divided across 10 groups (called ropes). Each rope was assigned a leader - mostly the leaders were from armed forces. The leader was responsible for managing the assets like climbing ropes and carabineers assigned to each rope and for ensuring attendance and for reporting on the well being of the members of the group. I was assigned to rope 1 that had interesting composition - a practicing medical doctor from North India, a PhD in yoga who runs a big hotel in South India, 2 young chaps around 17-18 years old (one was NCC cadet), 3 folks from US and a lady from armed forces who was also our rope leader.  

 

 

Some basic knots

The 8 days on the campus were designed for us to get some theoretical knowledge about the key tools and basic techniques of mountaineering. We learnt a few basic knots, we understood  (in theory) about uses of ice axe, crampons, carabineers, pitons etc. We were also given information about the health issues like Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). 

 

On the practice front, we also spent two half days at Tenzing Rock trying our hands at rock climbing (including going down and coming up a chimney), rappelling (Geneva style, shoulder, belly etc). In addition we spent a few hours climbing indoor and outdoor artificial walls. All the activities were done in groups/ropes that were assigned on day 1.  

Going down the Chimney

Coming up the Chimney

One of the tougher rocks to climb

 

 

 

Rappelling - Geneva style

 

 

 

 

 

The days would usually get over by 5/6 pm as it would get fairly dark, after which we would be asked to gather in media room for some motion picture on mountaineering. In absence of same, majority of us would gather in the mess to discuss the events of the day, worry over the upcoming trek or to simply chat.  

 

Loaded backpacks - resting on way to Tiger Hill

One of the days at campus was designed to test if we can walk with our assigned load. We were to trek 22 km to and fro Tiger Hill  with the goal of completing it before 2 pm. We were issued individual equipment  & clothes the previous day, that included a 70 liter rucksack, windproof jacket and pant, down jacket, down sleeping bag, sleeping bag liner, mittens, climbing harness with a short rope, mountaineering boots, crampons etc. Except for the boots women were to carry all this to base camp, in addition to our regular clothes and toiletries. Men were to carry everything including the boots. First time ever that I was grateful for the gender discrimination!

 

I found  the issued rucksack (green ones in the picture) very unwieldy, so I decided to use my own 50 liter bag instead, loaded it with the issued gear. However I replaced their sleeping bag with mine (as mine was lighter) and replaced their windproof and down clothes with mine (again mine were lighter).

At Tiger Hill

While the trek/hike route wasn't difficult as it was mostly tarred roads but the load on my shoulders was killing me. I had never carried so much load on a hike before. By the time we finished the hike, I knew I was in trouble. I wasn't sure I would be able to complete the hike to base camp. But I wasn't about to give up just yet. One of the female batchmates from Czech Republic was used to hiking with much heavier loads and she offered to help me carry some of the load on the hike to base camp and I gratefully accepted the offer.  

 

Last day at campus (25th Oct) we were given half day break from our regular schedule so that we could step out and do some last minute shopping for the items that we may have missed but were essential for the trek and the 8 day stay at the base camp. I chose to stay in the campus and used the time to take a long hot water bath (yes they had fixed the water heater finally) and sleep for a couple of hours to rest my shoulders that were still sore from the Tiger Hill trek and all the rock & wall climbing.

 

In the evening, the whole hostel was in a frenzy - we had to finally pack our bags for the next 15 days. Fitting everything in my 50 liter backpack was difficult especially because the course director said that my thermolite sleeping bag (with 0 F rating) won't work and that I had to carry the institute issued down bag. Again my Czech friend, offered to carry my sleeping bag and I carried hers as hers was lighter and smaller (she had her own down bag). That's how I finally managed to squeeze a sleeping bag, a liner, basic clothes & toiletries, basic medicines, pair of sandals, socks & thermals, wind/water proof jacket & pant, down jacket, fleece jacket, and hydration bag! On the outside were water bottles, ice axe and sleeping mat...I felt relieved that I had everything I needed - little did I know what suffering lay in store for me the next few days!

 

Getting fit for HMI

My love for mountains made me sign up for the basic mountaineering course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling. I signed up for it in May 2015 and course start date was in Oct 2015. Why HMI? Two reasons - one I didn't qualify for NIM's age limit criterion and second lots of blogs suggested to do Basic course from HMI and Advanced course from NIM.

I got accepted by June and was pretty excited about the course but all the blogs that I had read talked about the tough trek that one has to undertake to reach the HMI base camp in Sikkim. So I knew that I had to get strong to lift 12 kilos on my back and build endurance to climb 8000 plus ft in just 4 days. The challenge though was that in May itself I had a serious flare up of fibromyalgia and my fitness levels had actually dropped as I wasn't able to work out as hard as before. On top of that all the vacations and work travel had increased my weight by 8 kilos...double whammy!!! 

So here I was, in pain and not at my fittest and thinking of joining a basic mountaineering course at HMI...I was nuts! But as luck would have it, I heard about this fitness place near my residence that used sports conditioning, boxing, Muay Thai and CrossFit for building fitness. I was hooked after the trial class and I signed up with them. I liked the variety they offered and slowly my endurance started to build up again. On their suggestion, I would run 3 to 5 km before the class as warm up and added 20-30 minutes strength training on a regular basis. 

In addition I also started climbing 14 floors of my building (280 stairs) with 9 kilo backpack (10 times each instance) twice a week. I also did the loaded backpack hike at Nandi hills just before I left for the course and that told me that I have a shot at it. And that's how I finally landed at Bagdogra Airport on a hot afternoon of 18 Oct 2015. 

I paid for prepaid taxi and got ready for the 3 hour long ride to Darjeeling. Since it was Sunday, the traffic wasn't too bad and as we got closer to Darjeeling the weather cooled down and it felt as if we were driving through the clouds. The steam engine on the narrow gauge train took me back to my childhood...the start felt very promising - quite misleading I must say!

The taxi dropped me at the main gate as outside vehicles are not allowed inside and now I was stuck with a 15 kg unwieldy duffel that needed to be carried up a long steep slope to reach the institute building. Couple of advanced course guys saw me struggling with it and one of them decided to give me a hand with the bag. It was quite a hike to the main building and I was sweating by the time I got there - partly because I had gained 6000 ft in matter of hours and my lungs were still getting adjusted to thinner air. 

Little did I know all that for the next 8 days I would be doing much more at this altitude of 7000 ft than walk up this slope with a duffel bag!

Exercise...how to start loving it!

Exercise is a word that I hated for the first 20 years of my life. Hence, I am not surprised when most folks express the same sentiment about it - some say they don't have time, some say they don't have motivation and some say it outright that they don't like it. Politically incorrect thing to say in this fitness focused age but at least they are being honest!

It's important to recognise this feeling that you don't like or don't want to work out. To be honest who wants to do anything that feels like work? And there lies the source of all problems - we (read adults) have a way of taking fun out of everything including simple pleasures of life like walking or running by calling it work!

Remember how much we used to run as kids in flip flops? I can recall  leaving home at 8 am and not coming back till 8 pm during the summer vacations. All caked in mud and dirt - so much so that my father used to hose me down in the garden before letting me inside the house! This is how much I used to love being outside - cycling, climbing trees, playing games that required lot of sprinting and crouching in weird positions for hours during hide & seek. Never thinking of it as work but getting workout just the same!!!

But as I grew older and started gaining weight, it wasn't just because of my eating habits, it was also because I wasn't spending as much time outdoors. I would study/ work whole day and then watch TV to relax. Walking, however, was a big part of my life as I mostly used public transport to go to school/ college/ work. And then I bought a car and there went my last bit of chance to get some kind of physical activity. Within a few years, my fitness levels were so low that I couldn't walk 500 meters without complaining and even one flight of stairs used to feel like climbing up a hill. All this when I was just 25 years old!!!

The day I realised that my lack of fitness is in fact stopping me from enjoying my life, I decided to do something about it. I started with activity that I really enjoy and one that is easier on joints and muscles - swimming. It was definitely hard to look at myself in swimsuit - so out of shape I was but I stuck with it. A few days later I added walking to my routine, a few weeks later I also started playing squash...and the best part of it all? Nothing felt like exercise...I enjoyed every bit of these activities and slowly pounds started to come off and my fitness levels improved dramatically. And today, I am known as endorphin junkie - I am total b***h till I have had my endorphin fix of the day, i.e., my workout!

So how did someone who hated exercise and would cringe at the very mention of the word, fell in love with it? Simple...I don't do anything that I don't like. For instance, I hate gyms - they feel claustrophobic, people don't clean up machines after them and running on treadmill is boring! So what do I do? I run outside, I swim, I hike....I also get bored of doing the same thing everyday, so I shake things up - I do HIIT some days and weights some other days and of late I have adding boxing and sports conditioning to it.

Now let's say that there is absolutely no physical activity that you like to do or say that you have absolutely no time to work out/ exercise. Does it mean that you can't be fit? No...there still are ways to get fitter without devoting time to a physical activity. How? Simple...stop taking elevator, start parking the car farther, don't take the car out if your destination is within 2-3 km radius,  have fun with your kids in the swimming pool, run/jog with  them when they are cycling...the list is endless

Yes, first time you climb 4 floors or even 2, you will wonder why you are doing it but slowly it will get easier and one thing no one know.....getting fitter is like getting a high...the fitter you get, the fitter you want to be and your fitness goal becomes a moving target.

So...take the first step today, leave that smart phone behind or take it with you if you are so addicted to it but instead of sitting and talking, start walking and talking - watch the kids playing, watch the antics of the dogs being walked, see how the senior citizens are gathered and having fun, see how that toddler is enjoying the swing...trust me you will start liking to walk very soon :)

Eating Plan for weight loss

An eating plan is nothing else but as the name suggests a plan to eat in the fashion that would allow you to meet your fitness goals. But do not confuse this with a diet chart. All diets have following characteristics in common:

• There is a long list of foods that you can not eat
• There is a limited list of foods that you can eat
• They are monotonous - breakfast looks same every day, so do lunches and dinners

In nutshell, diets are designed to fail because  the moment we are told not to eat something, we want only that. Plus monotony is the biggest reason anything fails and diet is equally susceptible to failure due to monotony.

An eating plan differs from diet in all of the areas above. An eating plan is about managing your calories count and key nutrient groups (carbohydrates, protein, fat, sugar and fiber) in such a way that you meet your weight and/or fitness goals. For instance, if your want to lose weight, the key focus area would be a limiting calories and ensuring a balance across carbs, proteins and fats. However, if your goal is to build muscle, then we eat more protein and limit carbohydrates in the diet while eating back your exercise calories.

Now you are wondering, how much reduction in calories do I need? and what the hell is this "eating back" of exercise calories. And by the way, how does one measure calories?

First and foremost, you need to determine what is the daily calorie intake that you need to maintain your weight. This is called BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. There are many sites online that allow you to calculate that. Just Google and determine your BMR. All it requires is basic information like gender, age, weight and height.

Next step is determining how many calories do you currently eat in a day. There are many apps for same - I use myfitnesspal. It has the largest food database and you simply log in what you ate throughout the day and you would know your calories consumption and the breakup cross nutrient groups.

If you want to lose weight, your calorie consumption should be lesser than BMR and vice versa. If you want to maintain weight, the two numbers should be same...simple, isn't it? It gets a bit complex when your goals are not just about weight. However, for now lets just stick to weight loss as the goal.

Now you know how many calories you need to maintain your weight and how many are you actually eating. And if you are not losing weight its obvious that latter is more than former. Next step is fixing this equation - and that's where you decide the fix. If you are eating 1800 calories a day and your BMR is 1400 to stay at my current weight then you need to first bring 1800 down to 1400. How to do that? Simple...look at your food log/diary and see the items that you can easily cut...for instance, you can reduce chapatti count or instead of having both dal (lentils) and vegetables - have only one of the items or replace the sugar in your tea or coffee with sweetener.

This approach to calorie reduction has two benefits - one, it's not a generalized solution (aka diet) that doesn't take into account your tastes and needs. Two, you have the freedom to play with the solution - you can add something back next week because you sorely miss it and drop something else instead. All you need to do is stay at 1400 calories (in this example). As long as you do that, you will lose weight!

This approach also allows a little more play room as against a diet - if you overate one day, make up for it by eating lesser next 2 days...average at 1400 calories a day across the week. Do settle accounts on a weekly basis!!!  I even use this in reverse, I build up the calorie deficit by eating a little lesser during the week and come weekend, I have enough deficit to party and have fun.

Sometimes I use the above principle during the day also, if I know I have to eat out in evening, I eat lesser during the day and keep the surplus for the evening dinner. However, I usually refrain from consuming too many calories in the night because if done often it can cause weight gain even if you are under your limit. This is because you don’t need that much energy while sleeping and calories consumed at night will end up getting stored even though you didn’t eat too much during the day. Also if you regularly eat less during the day, when you actually need energy, you can permanently reduce your metabolic rate. So use this technique rarely.

Now that we have brought calorie intake down to BMR, next step is create a deficit, because intake equal to BMR means maintaining weight. To lose weight, we need a deficit. It can be done in two ways. You can increase your calorie expenditure by exercising and/or you can further reduce the intake. If you have a lot of weight to lose, my suggestion is to do both, i.e., bring down the calorie intake below BMR and also do some exercise. The caveat being that don't bring your calorie intake below 1200, as after that your metabolic rate starts to slow down and that's not good for your weight and your fitness in the long run.

In summary, to lose weight create a calorie deficit by eating lesser than  your BMR and/or working out but don't eat lesser than 1200 calories a day!

Diet - A Four-Letter-Word!

As far back as I can remember, I have had only love and hate relationship with food. Whenever I have gained weight it has been because of foods I love and I have always hated dieting - though I have been through numerous crazy diets in last two decades of my life!

One of my early diets consisted of coffee (w/ milk) for breakfast, raw (no dressing) salad with a toast for lunch & dinner and a fruit for snack. I have also done protein shake diets, variety of low carb diets, GM (7 day) diet, raw foods diet (fruits, nuts and milk), only one kind of food a day diet - you name it. In my quest to lose weight and get fit, I have left no stone unturned in my bid to find that perfect weight loss diet. And the findings?

There exists no such diet! Most diets that yield results, in short term, fail in long term because its not easy to give up any one element of food for life. And diets that take longer to show results...well most of us don't have patience to stick to them! 

So what is the solution...considering while exercise is needed for fitness, it is not the main ingredient of a successful weight loss recipe? A good eating plan is extremely important for shedding pounds. Yes that's the key - a good eating plan - not a diet. Diet truly is a four-letter-word! 

So whats the difference between the two? Many:

• First and foremost a good eating plan ensures that your love/ hate relationship with the food will give way to a healthy and balanced relationship. 
• Two - a good eating plan allows you to make smarter food choices while allowing you to occasionally indulge in those sinfully delicious foods. 
• Last but not the least a good eating plan is something that will stay with you rest of your life - you will never have to diet again!!!

I am sure now you are wondering when is she going to show us an eating plan? How will it look different from a diet. In my next post I would share details of how to move away from a diet to an eating plan based on your fitness goals.