April 2009

His father’s caustic remark forced this doctor to start practising what he preached
  Till about four years ago Shoab Shaikhs’ father, Dr. Dawood M.Yusuf, used him as an example to discourage his patients from over-feeding their kids. "Feed him more and he will end up like this," he’d remark caustically, pointing towards his youngest son, who went on to become a doctor himself. To his continued distress Yusuf Jr., now a 6-foot, 156-kilo giant, had the gall to dole out health advice to patients – "Eat more fruit and veggies"- that he seldom followed. Shoab’s weight saga began as a 2-year-old runt when "Mum’s solution for fattening me up was to give me double helpings of everything: 2 bars of Cadburys, 2 parathas, 2 bags of Uncle’s Chips," etc. Weighing 48 kilos at 13, Shoab shrugged away epithets like "fat ass" and "motu" to seek pleasure in food, and food only.
   His size put all other sources of entertainment out of bounds school picnics: "I couldn’t sit through the bus ride"; football  (“Instead of playing the game I’d be an onlooker");traveling ("Our Maruti van wasn’t designed for the 134-kilo adult I turned into").
   At 23 Shoab graduated from medical college with an MBBS degree, 156 kilos, and an encyclopedic knowledge of Mumbai’s eateries, under his 48-inch belt.
THE CHANGE
   In February 2005 Shoab bumped into school pal Junaid Ansari who dragged him to Gold’s Gym (Worli) for a 3-day trial session. "He picked me up every day, exercised alongside and finally talked me into taking up a full fledged annual membership." Yusuf Senior however was skeptical even as he wrote out the cheque for his son’s gym fees: "Mujhe para hai tum paise barbad karoge (I know you will just waste this money too)," he grumbled. This remark shocked Shoab: "My father hadn’t said such mean words even when he was sponsoring my gluttony" and made a secret pact with himself "to prove Dad wrong".
THE REGIMEN
   Yusuf Senior’s dour prediction nearly came true. For a whole month Shoab spent exactly 10 mins on the treadmill daily, crawling at a snail-like 3KPH, and then heading for the nearest eating place to undo "all that sweat."
   Eventually, hearing other members’ success stories brought about a change of heart. "I made a conscious effort to put in at least 20-30 mins on the treadmill." The start was painful, but "I was determined to push through, of course with some help from the sauna and spas, which eased the post workout soreness." Weight sessions were introduced as Shoab’s stamina increased.
   By March end, Shoab had shed the first two kilos (mostly water). Three months later 6 more followed, with the help of longer spell s on the treadmill, Elliptical Trainer and Spinner.
   His workout was changed often so that his body never got a chance to get used to it. "In any given month I’d be, say, weight training 4 days in the first week, doing 4 days of cardio in next, circuit training in the 3,d week and so on." With the addition of one and half hours of swimming thrice a week, Shoab was 35 kilos lighter and 10 inches trimmer by mid 2006.
    In August 2006 he added 6K to 8K of walking (roughly to 5 rounds) of the Mahalaxmi Race Course to his workout to break out of the weight loss rut, and hit 90 kg by February 2007. That figure however zoomed back to 96 kilos when, in a burst of over confidence, he shifted his goal from weight loss to body building. "Because that meant more food, more weights. But at least now I knew when (and how) to apply the brakes."
THE DIET
   Mid 2005, Shoab went back to his medical texts to draw up a Weight-loss diet – four ultra-lean meals daily of no-salt ("to cut down water retention"’), no-spice boiled vegetables, soup. sour fruit and vegetable juice. Rice, chapattis, oil, and everything that’s white and packaged were banned.
   The drastic diet took its toll. Shoab suffered two episodes of low blood pressure signified by bouts of dizziness. His doctor family rallied to put him back on his feet, this time prescribing six small nutritious meals daily and ample of hydration in the form of chaas, lassi and flavoured skim milk prepared at home.
   Of course all this still didn’t make things easier. Because while the rest of the family ate their paratha-kheema, Shoab dined like a monk, knowing that "one small piece of gulab jamun will be my undoing." To keep his mind off food, he devoted all his energies to work. "I started my own clinic and managed it along with Dad’s.’" left with no option Shoab’s tastebuds became accustomed to the bland food. "I began recognizing – and relishing – the crunchiness of fresh fruit, carrot and lettuce; the tangy explosion of tomatoes and raw mangoes. I had no idea that veggie kebabs tasted so good!"
   The bland diet also honed Shoab’s ability to spot any excess in the form of oil, spice, salt or sugar. "I became more discriminating as my tastebuds refined. This was the only way I could outgrow the passion for masaledar khana and learn to eat in moderation."
   He even took over the task of grocery shopping for the household. In mid 2006, a much lighter Shoab returned some of his old favorites to his Sunday menu, like phulkas with steamed chicken or fish, or soy nuggets with a little gravy. However the laccha parathas, kulchas, puris, kheema and packaged food (that included chocolate) remained taboo.
   In February 2007 Shoab put his wil lpower to the test by resuming his regular ghar-ka-khana and found that he can "get by with just 2 pieces of mutton."
But at least 2 days of t he week, he follows the old diet "to give my body the much required rest. The ban on eating out however continues: "That’s a gastronomic minefield I’ve not yet learned to navigate."
THE RESULT
   60 kilos off the scale. At 96 kg, Shoab is still 10 kilos shy of his ideal, but is happy. "Losing more than this is possible, but it would mean a struggle maintaining the weight. ".
THE REWARDS
   More choices: "At size 38, my pants don’t have to come from Chor Bazaar nor do I have to settle for king size innerwear (once I needed tailored Bermudas!). J can actually wear designer stuff like Levi s, Hanes, Benetton:
Easier traveling: "A Santro or Maruti 800 doesn’t feel like a squeeze anymore!"
Being a trendsetter: "J even got Mum and my two elder brothers to drop the extra pound."
Getting more out of life: " I saw my first movie – Partner – at JNOX and fitted into the seat!"
Better wisdom: "I learnt lack of activity made me feel bored and to overcome that I ate. Today I pack my days so there’s no time for idle thoughts, bad feelings or comfort eating

Exercise fuels Fat-burning  Fires .
   If you indulge in high-fat foods occasionally you may be able to avoid weight gain by staying active. A recent study from the University of Wisconsin in Madison found that regular exercise helps the body fire up metabolism more quickly to adjust for an increase in fat intake. The researchers assigned a group of 10 sedentary women to exercise at two different intensity levels as they switched from a low-fat diet (with 30 per cent of calories from fat) to a high fat diet (50 per cent of calories from fat). The team then compared the volunteers’ ability to burn calories when the women were sedentary, when they burned up 150 calories during an hour on a stationary bicycle, or when they burned 300 calories on the exercise bike over a two-hour period. The more each woman exercised, the faster she was able to burn fat calories after switching to a four-day high fat diet, the team reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. It’s not clear why exercise helped the women burn more fat calories. Dietary fat is often stored in fatty tissue, rather than sent to muscle tissue where it is used for energy.
   Working out may have helped shift dietary fat toward more metabolically active tissues, like muscle, and could have increased the activity of fat-burning enzymes in muscles, the researchers speculate. Another good reason to get a move on.

  Our ‘Grow More Hair’ article 2 issues ago invited a spate of enquiries from men, all panting to know where they can buy the drug Propecia (finasteride).
  Now while we had expected the feature tospark the interest of readers, we hadn’t anticipated that they’d want to go rushing to the nearest chemist’s and purchase a dose, stat. (To give you an idea of just how much the subject weighs on men’s minds, even our AC mechanic, who’s barely eking out a living, wants "something" for his unmarried 32-year-old son’s bald patch. He’s made enquiries at several so-called Ayurvedic centres only to be scared off by the rates quoted – a jaw-dropping Rs.5-lakhs for 10 months of treatment!)
   Getting back to the crux of our subject matter, to all those desperate men who want to grow more hair, we say, go back to the article and read it carefully. It clearly states that finasteride is a prescription drug. Ergo, only a doctor can tell you whether it’s okay to take it. Keep in mind that finasteride was originally conceived to treat men with enlarged prostates. That means its effects travel all the way down South. Then there’s another serious issue: Young men (many of our callers’ were under 30!) would need to take a drug that essentially works on their hormones indefinitely, to maintain the scalp benefits. Although some studies show a reduced cancer risk from finasteride, in higher doses (5 mg) prostate cancer and reduced sperm production (in overweight men) are some of the fears still being addressed by experts.
    We’re not out to dishearten you or warn you against the finasteride option (esp after putting out its plum benefits!), rather that you be cognizant of the dangers. In fact there’s even a spot of good news on the horizon: Research indicates that hair growth may be achieved with doses as low as 0.2 mg. That means you’ll not only save money by splitting a one-milligram tablet into quarters, but also lower any potential health risks, considerably.
CHEMICAL ALLIES
   Talking of hormones. These  chemicals are in the news for all the wrong reasons nowadays. Much of this blame, of course, should be laid on sportsmen, who have been largely responsible for bringing disrepute to them. Not a day passes, it seems, without some athlete the other getting caught for using them as performance enhancers (doping).
   A future article will ok at Human Growth Hormone (HGH) supplementation concerns. But in this issue you’ll read about why testosterone pills land patches) are all the rage today, not just with athletes and gym buffs, but also among regular guys who look on it as the Magic Pill, the Fount of Youth, what ever. And why, like all good things, it’ s a double-edged sword.