I was always one the shortest and thinnest kids at school. (I am a proud 5’10” and whopping 64 kgs now!!!) I don’t remember having any other bench other than the first at school. One observation I have had is that the brighter students are always in front and the lesser inclined are seated towards the back. And again the height dictates the arrangement. Now it makes me wonder if the height and intellectual brightness are inversely proportional!!!!
Anyways, by the time I hit the first year of engineering, I was around the 42-43 kgs mark and my height had shot up to what I am currently. So I was this reed thin guy. I had to tie weights to the ankles of my feet for the fear of blowing off in a gentle breeze. And during the same time I started smoking. Life at engineering was very unpredictable and during those days carrying a tiffin to work was very LS. So I never carried one and had to make do with some stuff in the canteen.
I made some feeble attempts to get to a gym and trying to workout, but the gym instructor told me that bones could not be toned, I needed to have some fat or a hint of muscles. I tried running, but lost a little more weight. Then, I tried just lazing around hoping that I would put on weight like the gujju aunties in my building did. Nothing worked and I dropped the idea.
Time passed ever so quickly and I started working. And again, I wanted to put on weight, so that I could throw some weight around at work. I again met with failure. And again I gave up my attempts. Things became even worse at management school, where I actually lost some weight. Things were chaotic and there was always something to do. And hence any discipline in terms of diet and whatever else was never observed. Wonder how I learnt management there!!!
My poor parents faced an uphill task of finding me a bride, since I failed miserably at this job. I could never sustain the interest of a girl as she always looked through me and beyond me – unless provided with a magnifying glass. Anyways, somehow I met Megs and by a stroke of good luck she agreed to marry me. I was relieved that the ordeal of the wife hunt was over.
Megs made it as her personal challenge to help me put on weight. Poor girl, she used to wake up in the morning, irrespective of what shift she was doing and cook for me. Unfortunately, the half the food she used to give me was consumed by my colleagues. What to do, she is a brilliant cook. Two and half years passed and I still was 28” waist size and 52 kgs. And I was not bothered.
My chances were slim (pun intended). But I decided that before my child is born, I will put on weight. So one day I woke up and decided to renounce some things in an effort to put on weight. The choice of things to give up was not difficult. Cigarettes and booze was on the list as Megs wanted them there. Tea and coffee was off because mom thought that they suppress hunger. And I read somewhere that the best way to be healthy is give up on non veg. And yes, I decided to eat a lot of bananas. Actually I substituted them with my craving for tea. So I was eating about 6-8 bananas per day.
In six months time, I had touched 64 kgs and 32” waist size. Not bad huh? And now I am back to my original routine of a non veg diet couple of times a week.
My advice – forget expensive weight gain programs, forget unnecessary supplements, try healthy food, fruits, sacrifice smokes and alcohol for some time and if you do this, you may just experience healthy weight gain like me!
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