Can you lose your weight through grace?

This was a couple of days before Guru Purnima this year. Despite the sunny skies, it was a chilly day. Or perhaps the butterflies in my stomach may have made me feel colder, since I was about to meet Swamiji nearly 3 years after the pandemic began.

The moment I was about to meet Him, His article about having a healthy lifestyle popped into my head and I started thinking about my weight. It was nearly 85 kg at that time. Well, guess what? This is exactly what He asked of me when I sought His blessings and spiritual guidance further.

“Arpit, you need to lose 5-7 kg,” He said gently, like a river sweeping away the nearby rocks (my impurities) and making its way to the sea (seeing into my consciousness). Now, isn’t He our holistic life coach, guiding us in every aspect of our lives from spirituality to fitness, relationships, business, personality development and whatnot?

A few months later, I checked my weight again after the Sri Suktam Sadhana event and Wohooo! I lost about 9.5 kg, bringing my weight to 75.6 kg. Is it due to my Sadhana? Possibly. Read on! 🙃 Was I burning myself out exercising day and night? Nope, in fact, I didn’t have more than an hour to dedicate to my workout every day because of my busy schedule. I just changed a couple of things in my lifestyle as follows:

Diet

I started taking only 2 light meals a day. First between 11 am and 1 pm, then before 6:30 pm. I had coffee with nuts once in the morning and some fruits after a focused work sprint of 30 minutes to an hour. Almost no carbs or sugar on most weekdays, and started and ended my day with warm water usually mixed with either turmeric, carom seed, lemon or just plain.

I indulged in binge eating on the weekends though. You gotta need some motivation, right? This wasn’t a rigid diet plan, but I followed it as closely as I could.

Exercise

My workout sessions lasted 45 minutes to an hour, three or four times a week without any particular plan. It was usually a combination of cardio and strength training, followed by 20 to 30-minutes of swimming occasionally. On busy days, I just ended up swimming alone.

Sadhana – This could be weird but I believe it helped too.

Nope! It isn’t due to my tapas in the sadhana, though I wish it was.😅 I feel my sitting posture helped a bit too, since I sat for 16 days straight for 5-6 hours. There is also some evidence that suggests that maintaining a good sitting posture burns a few calories as well.

See, not much eh? Never in my life have I reduced so much in such a short period. Well, the words came out of His mouth, so it had to happen, right? I still have a few kilos to lose before I enter maintenance mode, but I wanted to share the power of His grace. It was the x-factor that changed my game – His grace can make anything possible.

So fellow seekers, step out in faith and trust! Rahe fit and and Kare Sadhana! 😀

All glories to Shri Hari.

PC