SIX PACK AMBI: MY COLLEGE PANTS (ALMOST) FIT ME AGAIN

I tried fitting into my 32" college pants just a fortnight into the reboot of Project Six Pack Ambi. It was easier to make two supercharged magnets' like poles touch. Three months later, they fit....well almost. Have to breath out and hold my breath to put the button on and it's still not very comfortable. Regardless, I have gone from a 39-40" inch waist to 33-34" in this intermittent period and have lost 14 kilos (31 lbs). All I'm doing is following this BBC Couch-To-5K program. I haven't exactly dieted or exercised in the alternate days I didn't run. Everyone that has seen me after a long while has been putting dṛṣṭi like anything. I have never done drugs but I presume the high would be similar to what I felt when people said I've slimmed. A grade 1 ego boost.

Since tis the age where reading a couple of books by Dawkins makes you smarter and more authoritative on "organized religion" than vēdik scholars who have spent decades honing their craft, I thought it'd be nice to summarize and give a few pointers on what has worked for me. Usual disclaimers apply: what has worked for me may or may not work for you. I'm the kind of guy that doesn't gain weight that easily and loses it quickly upon exercising. My sister puts 10X the effort I do but she doesn't lose weight as fast as I do. Each individual is indeed very unique that way.

If you follow these SIX things, you'll do just fine:

• Targets
• Targets
• Targets
• Routine
• Routine
• Routine

When I restarted running, I ran in a haphazard way. Without any targets or a routine. My target was to run 100 m more, then 2 minutes more than the previous day. If I missed a day or two, I would struggle to keep the pace set earlier and get disheartened. By following a solid plan, I was able to build on my stamina piece by piece. I'm currently in week 5 of the program and finished the 1st run yesterday. So far no run has exceeded 5 minutes but in the next run I have to run for 8 minutes. In the run after next, it's for 20 minutes! 

I did run for 20 minutes earlier but I have my doubts whether I would be able to do it 3 days from today but that doesn't matter. All I'm going to do is give my best and trust that the work done in the previous month will see me past the finish line. To those that say rituals are pointless, I can only say "Y'all totally wrong". A quasi-ritual has seen my lose 6 inches of belly and 14 kilos of weight. I can only imagine if I had been a stickler for routine like my grandfather. I'd already be posting photos of my six pack.

I am planning to add some exercises in the alternate days I am not running from Monday onwards for a more holistic approach to fitness. I still can't do more than 5 push ups and I can't even bring my elbows to 120 degrees let alone 90 when doing a pull up. Hopefully, when I write my next post I'll be up to 20 push ups and 5 pull ups in addition to running for 30 minutes nonstop. 

P.S: The app is not available on Google Play Store. You can download it from here. I use the baritone voice of one of the greatest short distance runners of all time: Michael Johnson to advise me. Obviously it's psychological but it works for me!

P.P.S: In my opinion, one of the biggest reasons for weight gain is snacking at random times. I'm not the biggest snacker but I feel it easier to avoid snacking by having a self-reward system. What I mean that is that whenever you feel like eating some norukkuttīnī, tell yourself that you won't eat that cornflakes mixture packet unless you finish a small task or a module or even a household chore. It could be something as simple as cleaning and rearranging your cluttered desk. This way you can either put off snacking or you have done something positive to reward yourself. It goes without saying that you need to gradually reduce the quantity of your mini-meals.