I am sure we have all heard this one way or the other - if you stop working out, all the muscles turn to fat, ergo one should not work out, or they would be trapped and worse off later. No points for guessing my response: I call BS! When I hurt my knee bad, I had to stop for a while, albeit only a couple weeks. When I did resume, I was doing zero cardio and no leg workouts. I did think that I would be chubby again, which is something I later figured FFBs (Former Fat Boys) struggle with psychologically. This was the time, I first got into modelling, the reasoning being, "I better take some pictures now to document my fitness level, because I doubt I will be at this level any time soon." Fortunately, I was wrong, but I am glad that this lead me to try something new, which later turned out to be a confidence booster and a potent motivator.
The fact that I couldn't do any legs workouts, which are the building blocks of a balanced program, made me much more aggressive towards the body part I could work. My workouts consisted of drop sets, and supersets. I made considerable strength gains, given the constraints of the injury. I was hobbling for almost a month, and the rug getting pulled from under my feet gave me a different perspective. It forced me to do something, I would probably never have tried, which is giving up cardio. By the way, I forgot to mention the secret about why my muscles didn't convert to fat (even making that statement feels like I am talking alchemy). Here is the magic trick: reduce your calories! I was on a 3300 calories diet when I was going berserk on the elliptical or the stationary bike, and I had to cut it down to about 2300 calories. I almost maintained my weight and improved my composition a little (some muscle mass gained, some fat lost) for the next two months.
In June 2012, I got the chance to go to Okinawa, Japan for three weeks of summer school in computational neuroscience. Believe it or not, I emailed the organisers to ask, if I will have access to a gym while there, and I was told the housing did not have a gym but I might be able to walk half an hour to a nearby gym, which sounded both inconvenient and expensive. I was a little worried, since I did not want a big setback that might result from three weeks of hiatus compounded with not-so-well controlled nutrition. I talked to a fitness expert at UCSD and she suggested some body weight workouts which seemed like a good place to start. As I was looking for other options, I came across P90X, which is a fairly famous workout program that can be done at home with weights or resistance bands. It seemed challenging enough, although I had to modify it to make it work with my injured knee, which was a little better after several appointments with the physiotherapist, but I was pretty certain I won't be running any races any time soon. So, I bought resistance bands and head off to Japan.
The free food we got at Okinawa was fairly healthy, consisting of seafood, meats, vegetables and fruits. I avoided rice, noodles, etc. and stopped at a small serving of dessert. By the way, the dessert servings in Japan were really small, I would guess less than 100 calories, which is in stark contrast to the servings in America (400 calories for a slice of cheesecake), no wonder there is a difference in how long Japanese folks live vs. the westerners (do not quote me on this, I am speculating and employing hyperbole). Anyways, my diet wasn't perfect like it used to be, but it was good enough. I also carried tupperware so that I could sneak out some food for intermediate meals. I did P90X inspired workout in my room, 4 days a week, and I came back with only a couple extra pound and little to no strength loss. This I call a victory! Lesson being, the nutrition and workout doesn't have to be perfect. Something is better than nothing for sure. Make small changes to eating habits and workouts to build towards cleaner nutrition and focussed workouts. It takes time and experience.
Back in San Diego, I resumed my P90X inspired workouts, since I thought I can make them more challenging with the gym at disposal, and they were faster: ~45 mins of high intensity workouts, 4 days a week. I did a few more shoots which turned out to be pretty well, motivating me further. Next destination on my travel plans was India, to visit family and to attend my sister's wedding, in our hometown of Kanpur. For those who have some familiarity with the town, you would know that the place is no Venice Beach when it comes to fitness. You could also guess the array of responses a statement like this would invoke, "Mom, I will be eating 6 times a day, no rice or poori or parantha (all refined flour breads), strike out sweets while we are at it, and can you not use any vegetable oil, butter or ghee (clarified butter)." After much negotiation, we settled on 4-5 meals, some sweets, barley instead of rice, and occasional parantha. However, when Eid (a big festival), the wedding, and the associated dozen of celebrations rolled in, I gave up and my diet often consisted of just sweets, biryani (basically rice, oil, fatty meats) and such. I had my resistance bands though, and stuck to P90X through it all. As a result, and in spite of all the indulgence for about 5 weeks, I stayed in fair physical condition. Lesson being, for a relatively short period, the repercussions of relaxation in one dimension (here diet) can be minimised by sticking it out on the other dimension (here workouts). But in long term, it is the synergy of both, combined with proper rest that leads to best results. Also, treating oneself once in a while does wonders for psychological well-being.
Continuing on that last note, here is the heuristic I generally use: when I am traveling, I would treat myself to anything and everything, but when home in San Diego, I would stick to a solid plan with few cheat meals where I again let go (ask my friends how I eat at Thanksgiving for example). This way, I can stick to eating really healthy for most of the time, and I don't crave for unhealthy food, since it's almost always on the horizon. Another trick I use to stick to a healthy eating is to set a goal, achieve it, and then treat myself to something. This could be meal in a restaurant I wanted to try, clothes/watches, some gadget, etc. Resuming the story, after spending a month again in San Diego, I got the chance to go to New Orleans, which is a wonderful city, with some of the best food I ever had in my life. I did some science, ate everything NOLA had to offer, partied with friends on Bourbon Street, and all in all had an amazing time.
One thing that had always been frustrating to me is how long it takes to get lean after putting some weight on. This frustration was also echoed by my only friend who is as enthusiastic about fitness as I am. I would come back from travels a few pounds heavy after a week of merry-making, and then work my ass off for a month to get back to where I was before the travel. This is not fun! In essence, I spent 5 weeks, most of which included hard work and solid nutrition, to enjoy a week of break. Around this time I had been reading about more workout philosophies and nutrition styles. I steer clear from fad diets, because of course you can lose 5 pounds by doing the "watermelon diet" for example, which is essentially starving yourself to the point that your body looses all retained water and some fat/muscles. My idea of nutrition is one that is healthy, balanced, and that I can stick to for long term, possibly life.
In my next post, I would break off from the story-telling, and talk about the nutrition and workout strategies that made me bigger, leaner and stronger. I would go over some technicalities of calorie counting, macro nutrients and may be a few quick recipes, highlighting that it's not as hard to eat really healthy as it's made out to be.
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