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The Evening Standard
October 2003
by Nirpal Dhaliwal
PEOPLE ask me: "You've lost so much weight, how does it feel?
Do you feel great?"
My answer is: "I'm too knackered to know
how I feel. Ask me again in a couple of weeks." Their blank
expressions show how little they understand what I've gone through
these past two months.
Eight weeks ago, I weighed 17 stone, my body-fat content was a
grotesque 34 per cent, and my waist had ballooned to an elephantine
42 inches. I'm not even 30 yet I was fat, and I hated it. Two
years ago, I had been enviably fit. Then I got married. "You
look lovely," the wife would say if I wore a tight T-shirt,
my belly bulging like a Buddha. Then, when I was told in Richard
James that I was too big to fit an off-the-peg suit, I decided
something had to be done. Fast.
I went along to Karmaa, a martial arts and alternative therapy
centre in Camden, and met owner Rafael Nieto and gave him my brief:
I wanted to lose two stone in two months. Raf, a world champion
kick boxer who has taught the sport for 25 years, was honest:
it would take an enormous effort on my part. Then I met Garth
Delikan, the resident nutritionist, who made me keep a food diary
I was in the hands of two very capable men I knew I could trust.
Raf said: "Make sure you come here five days a week. Everything
else will take care of itself." I believed him, and he was
right.
Three days a week, I joined Raf and the other black-belts in their
punishing but enjoyable kick-boxing routine. Trading blows has
been a wonderful experience: I've landed and taken some big knocks
and become bolder and more confident in the process. If you can
keep your cool while someone is hitting you, you can hold your
nerve in any situation: no wonder many people on Karmaa's books,
almost 50/50 men and women, have high-stress City jobs. Twice
a week, Garth put me through a regime using weights and cardiovascular
equipment that was sheer torment. To increase my ability to burn
fat, I had to build as much muscle as possible: lean muscle tissue
burns calories even when resting. The dark loathing I had for
Garth during those sessions is an abiding memory.
Nutrition is vital. I ate five small meals a
day and was banned from eating after 7pm. Garth explained that
to get in shape I had to eat carbohydrates; without them, my body
wouldn't have the energy to exercise. The regime also meant I
had to give up smoking.
These two months have been a revelation. "What you've achieved
in eight weeks would take the average guy eight months,"
said Raf. My character has changed: I now know I have great reserves
of tenacity and resolve - it was hard to get out of bed knowing
that several hours of punishment lay ahead. I lost just over two
stone, and my body fat percentage is below 25 per cent.
Kick boxing didn't just give me a new body, it has given me a
fresh take on life. |
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