The other said: “A Moment on the Lips, Forever on the Hips.” To discourage me, my mom stuck two fridge magnets-one right on the handle saying, “STOP! FAT HERE!” -like a traffic sign. We have nothing better to do, so we indulge. For example, we walk into the kitchen, open the fridge, and just stare at it. There are so many things that we take for granted.
Can you share your experience when you started your weight loss programme?Īdnan Sami: For the first month-and-an-half or so, I went through serious withdrawals-just like any person with an addiction goes through. The first few weeks are always the most difficult. Hence, people need to be made aware and educated as there is a lot of ignorance about this aspect. Many times, for most people, especially for those who are morbidly obese, it is not that they are just over-indulgent, but they seriously have a mental/physical problem. You don’t make fun of a person’s physical disability-if they’re handicapped, blind, short, tall it’s not their fault. People look down upon obese individuals and make fun of them. But, what happens is that you follow those rules only till you are there the moment you are out, you go out and party, and start hogging. which is why people go to rehabs or controlled-environment farms. Today, people are sensitive and sympathetic towards those who suffer from drug or alcohol addiction, but they don’t realise that obesity is as serious an addiction. Obesity is as much a disease as any other physical disorder. The body set-up and chemistry is different for each person, and it reacts in a different way to every food. We know some people who eat a lot, but still do not put on weight, and for some, eating small portions also amounts to a lot of calories. They simply pass comments like, “Ah, what a careless person.” But people are genetically different and that is also true for their eating habits. Obesity can be genetic and that is what people don’t understand. There is another important factor that my nutritionist pointed out. When I was depressed, I used to eat and then feel guilty, and again eat. They asked me questions like, “What do you do when you are sad, or happy.” My answer to both was: “I eat!” I associated food with every emotion. I was put on a no-sugar, no-rice, no-bread, no-oil diet only high protein. They make you change your lifestyle, and do not make you feel that you are on a diet.
Nutritionists analyse all your habits as a person – physical, physiological and emotional. Įvery person reacts differently to different foods, and situations. For some people, even if they smell food they put on weight. Everything you think and do affects your health. What I realised is that it’s all in the mind. When I signed up for losing weight, they did a lot of tests on me to check my reaction to various foods.
Here are the excerpts from the interview with the award-winning singer-music composer: What is obesity? How serious is it? How does it affect a person?Īdnan Sami: It is very serious, but I did not know the seriousness of obesity till my nutritionist told me. Manoj Khatri interviewed Adnan Sami to find out how he did it and what was his experience of going from fat to fit. He lost a whopping 130 kilos in a span of one year – a feat that few can imagine, leave alone achieve. The extraordinary transformation of Adnan Sami is the stuff that inspiring stories are made of. Today, he enjoys playing tennis and squash. Picture courtesy Licensed under from 786foster101 īarely a year or so ago, Adnan Sami couldn’t walk five steps without resting, needed belt extensions in aircraft, couldn’t lie down for sleeping and had to travel with a custom-made wheelchair.