I would like to clarify something…

Mass is the internal matter present in the body.

Weight is the gravitational pull of the body.

It has become a norm for people to say I need to lose weight which they refer to getting slim. If you want to lose weight, go to the Moon or outer space.

I myself have been fat throughout most of my life. My most latest experience of putting on too much mass was during the Pandemic. Being locked in a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn for two to three months is not fun. After Eid, I tried to put on the jeans I wore regularly and it wouldn’t go up my thighs. That’s how bad it got!

I started my pre-Pandemic walks again. I would eat dessert after four days and cut my food portions. One month, two months, three months, nothing! I would get about 6000 steps but burn less than 200 calories. It felt as if my fat cells had gotten stronger. I would fit into my jeans but I wasn’t burning enough calories.

Whenever I got fat before the Pandemic, all I had to go was exercise and I would lose mass accordingly. Not much work needed to be done except consistent exercise. Post-Pandemic and getting thin became a challenge. It was not until I started working in the summer of 2021 that I had to walk excessively which allowed my calories to burn quickly.

Fast-forward to 2023 and I still haven’t reached my goal. I have even started going to they gym and gaining muscle. Lifting dumbbells help you burn fat because you are applying energy into doing reps. I’m predicting it will take 12 more months to reach my goal but I am still trying.

My food intake is decent. In fact, I have started to eat in less portions since I trained myself to eat less in the past months. I force myself to walk at least 6000 steps before I head back home. I prefer outdoor walking over the treadmill because you are outside and the sun is shining on you.

Gotta get your Vitamin D!

I eat dessert but once a day. In the past whenever I had skipped dessert for more than a week, I started to crave excessively. Now, I let my body have its extra share of carbohydrates. I have started to eat cucumbers which I have heard from a recent podcast they help in clearing your gut.

A clean gut allows more fat to be burned.

I have increased my protein intake to build muscle. I do not drink protein shakes. Not only are they expensive but I do not trust them because of its ingredients. People still drink it so I am not going to tell them to change your choices.

With so many changes, I still haven’t reached the halfway point of my goal of 75 kilograms (165 pounds).

I was 96 kg (211 lbs) in December 2022.

I am currently 89 kg (196 lbs).

Let’s see how long does it take for me to reach my goal or at least get to 80 kg (176 lbs).

The Pandemic has really made things difficult for me in terms of losing excess body fat. Sometimes you feel like Eddie Murphy’s character from Nutty Professor. You get to the point where you are depressed and feel like you don’t fit in society because you are fat. That is something I struggled when I was little. I guess times have changed now and people have realized being fat is not always linked to being lazy. The Pandemic made a lot of people fat because most of them couldn’t go out.