The Caveman’s Curse: Loosing weight is difficult

The Economist recently covered obesity and the difficulty of losing weight under the arresting headline Cavemans Curse.
http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21568061-why-it-easy-get-fat-and-hard-slim-down-cavemans-curse

This reminded me to finally pen down my journey in losing 20+ Kg over 18 months. Many friends and esp. Golf buddies have been asking me the “Secret” and here is the recipe…
Please keep the following in mind:
1. Your Mileage may vary. Our bodies react differently to same stimulus.
2. Measure and adjust. The most powerful tool is (almost) daily measurement. Course correction will come easy. ( My Golf buddies can see the engineer in me. Not for nothing do I need to pace the length of my putt. Not a feel golfer..)
3. First 2 weeks is crucial. The caveman’s body fights any starvation and craves food. We end up overeating after a strenuous workout. Controlling this in the first 2 weeks is crucial. After that the body goes into a different mode and it becomes a lot easier.
4. Focus on the meal not the ingredients. Too many of the diets focus on ingredients. This is a mistake in my experience. It is the whole meal and lifestyle that matters. So I do eat junk food and cheese and sweets but seem to be doing well despite that..
5. Beware Mis-information. Much of the nutrition information/ advice is based on occidental body types and lifestyles. They do not apply to others. Much of medical literature is based on work sponsored by a drug company. It is unlikely they will find evidence to support historical food habits. For example residents of coastal belts have historically taken a local grown oil ( coconut?) and done well . Similarly on a historical basis rice eating Chinese and Vietnamese or (East) India belt have had much less obesity then the wheat eating North. What is important is quantity as our lifestyle changes. Our overall calorie intake has to come down.
6. Calorie intake over exercise. About 70% of weight reduction is due to calorie intake. Exercise has a much lower contribution. Altered lifestyle (Calorie intake) is a must to sustain a lower weight.
It’s not linear: I started about 18 months back on a sustained plan to reduce from a BMI near 30 to less then 24. This meant loosing 20 Kg. I measured myself every day .I used Wii Fit Body test feature (http://wiifit.com/body-test/ ) which also shows a graph so can see trend. My weight was a like the stock market ( Nifty or S&P500) Goes up and down by around 1Kg a day at most and 0.25 Kg most of the time. A good night out with friends invariably means at least 1Kg extra to my weight. My weight also fluctuates about 0.5 Kg on its own during the day so measuring at a similar point in time is a good idea. For me that was before breakfast.  Aside the volatility of body weight is similar to stock price. Exceeds the mean  gain/loss …
Take breaks in between: I lost around 2.5 Kg /Month during the extreme phase. I would lose up to 1.5Kg in a week and up to 1Kg in a day. My workout was mainly fat burn walk at 6-6.5 Km/Hour speed on an incline between 10-12 degree. I would lose 300-700 Calories in 30-60 minutes. I did not run and avoided stressing my knee. However I rarely did workout on successive days and did allow some gaps and some gain in weight. So jig jag like the stock market but with bearish trend so over longer period’s weight was definitely going down. This is important as if I overdid the exercise I would fall sick pretty quickly. So you have to hear your body and ease up once in a while…
Reducing calorie intake is crucial: I learnt this tip in my sojourn in UK. I was gaining weight and it was Ian Morris who suggested “Do as the Brits” and replace dinner with a soup. Works like a charm. Alternate days I replaced full dinner with a light meal or a soup. You need to take a lot of fluids to make your body not crave for food and overeat the next day. Before I started I used to eat 2 masala dosa for lunch. Halfway thru 1 was enough and now even one is a bit too much. Similarly I reduced my breakfast from 2 pair of bread to one and cut out coffee. It is important to reduce calorie intake even more as you lose weight. Eating dinner 2 -3 hours before sleeping at night helps. Stretching the meal over a much longer time period helps. Because of workout and reduced intake of calories the body craves food. When we start eating the chemical signal of fullness comes very slowly and we will overeat. I used to stretch the meal out by reading along with and sipping around 1.5-2L of water while eating. This stops overeating.
The Calorie Journey: A rough summary of my journey:
Baseline:A round 2,500 calories a day and 2 round of Golf ( 10Km sedentary walk) in a week. So 17,000 Calorie per week. Gaining weight by ½ a Kg per month.
First 2 weeks : Reduce 300 calorie every alternate day ie reduced to 16,200-300 a week. This had a marginal effect on weight. I stopped gaining weight.
Next 2 Months: Start workout 3-4 days a week. Roughly 1,500-2000 calorie burn/week. So down to under 15,000 calorie per week ( -12%) . Lose around 1.5 Kg/month
Next 3 months: Reduce breakfast by 150 calories every day as well as 300 calorie in dinner on alternate days. So down to 15,200 /Week intake . Workout 4 days a week. So net at 14,000/Week. Reduced weight by 2 kg per month.
Next 2 months. Stopped extra workout and reduced golf as on Christmas / new year holidays. However measured weight every day and kept strict control on intake. Managed to stay flat over 2 months. This was a big relief as the key is lifestyle modification to maintain weight without extra workout.
Next 6 months: Reduce Lunch intake by 100-200 calorie at least 4 days a week. Continue workout 4 times a week. Lose by 1.5 Kg/Month.
Next 4 Months: Reduce workout intensity and frequency. Lose 1 Kg / Month.
Stabilized mode: Roughly 1,900-2,000 calorie / Day ( -20% from baseline) . Able to maintain weight even without any workout. And 20kg less then baseline. BMI around 24.

Diet changes may not be important: I did not make any changes to the composition of what I eat. So I did take cheese ( with bread) and also sweets( jalebi!!). I did completely cut out milk as I can no longer digest milk. I simply reduced the quantity of everything I eat. So 2 Jalebi instead of 6, One egg instead of 2, 2 roti instead of 4…I also do frequently take (junk food..) ie Namkeen ( Peanuts, chips, …) . These are surprisingly rich in calorie and I had to really watch the straying hand for one more bite …