(My name is Papri Das and I have taken on a two-month weight gain challenge! Follow my journey, from why I want to put on weight, last 6 weeks of the challenge in the links below)
Weeks 7 & 8
As we drew close to the end of the challenge, I found myself getting more and more tensed. Even after following my diet plan to the T, the change on the weighing scale wasn’t significant.
After a quick restrategising with my nutritionist Rupali Dutta, we decided to increase the amount of food intake, even as the diet remained the same.
Now, not only was I tensed about meeting my end goal – I had more meals to cook and more exercise to keep up with.
Luckily my mother flew down from Kolkata to help me with it.
Mom not only motivated me to see the challenge through, but also brought in variety to the menu by converting several of the dishes in the food chart to classic Bengali dishes. The ingredients and amount remained the same, but the style of cooking changed.
She also doubled as my video-grapher, much to my chagrin and recorded my ‘oops’ moments.
We realised that several of the green vegetables and ‘saag’ that my mom had cooked for me as a child, were sources to nutrition that was much required for me. Not just for the challenge, but for life, in general.
Day 60 of Papri’s Weight Gain Challenge
Then came D-day: the moment of reckoning.
On day 60 of the challenge, I gathered up a nervous me and arrived at Rupali Dutta’s clinic, to find out whether or not I have made it.
Without much ado, we quickly checked my wjavascript:void(0)eight.
The reading on the scale was 36.9 kg.
Therefore the result was: I had gained 3.7 kg during the 8 -week long challenge. While I had obviously failed to gain 12 kg, which was the original target, Rupali Dutta reassured me that gaining 12 kg in such a short time might not be healthy anyway.
Papri’s Take Away From Weight Gain Challenge
My take away from the entire experience were as follows:
- You can be skinny and still have a high body fat percentage.
- Eating junk food is not a good way to gain weight. To either gain or lose weight, the right balanced diet is necessary.
- Consistency is the key to any weight gain challenge - eating the same thing at a fixed time is much more efficient than eating a lot at a time, and missing the next meal.
- For any diet to show effect, keeping yourself stress free and motivated is essential.
- Working out s integral to healthy weight gain.
Though the 8-weeks of my challenge are over, the real challenge has just begun. That is, to maintain the weight I have gained in the last two months and also ensure that the healthy lifestyle I have adopted in the course of the challenge continues even when no camera is pointed at me.
Good luck, me!
Cameraperson: Shiv Kumar Maurya, Athar Rather, Abhay Sharma, Sumit Badola and Abhishek Ranjan
Graphics and Art: Erum Gour and Arnica Kala
Video Editor: Deepthi Ramdas
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