A Mindful Weight Loss Practice — No Fads, No Extremes, Just Awareness...

Everyday we come across professionals and even common public coming up with expert weight loss advices, personally or through different channels. Fad diets trend every few months, gyms that sell transformation promises and supplement companies introducing miraculous shortcut molecules. Yet so many of us like me struggled because most of these methods ask us to overhaul our lives in ways that are neither practical nor sustainable.

Earlier this year, I found myself stuck in that very cycle. In March 2025, while on vacation, I stepped on a scale and saw 106 kg staring back at me. I was on the borderline of lifestyle illnesses at not even 40. I was upset and out of random thinking, I thought my grandparents had lived long, healthy and successful lives without special diets or gym memberships by just simply living mindfully and actively.

I knew I didn't approve of and was tired of the strict diet charts, calorie cutting rules and complicated workouts. But I wanted to change and so I tried something radically simple! I started tracking my life, not with an app or a smartwatch, but just a small diary that I called 'My Personal Fitness Tracker'.

Every day, I logged-

Rest info -My sleep and wake times, total hours of rest

Food intake - Everything solid I ate or drank with details like time, type, and quantity

Exercise - My daily movement like steps, chores, play, exercise or anything that involved physical activity

In the beginning, I was just jotting things down. Many days I found myself just writing long lists of everything I ate or drank. It felt mechanical at first but the turning point came a few days later when I flipped back through my notes.

Seeing everything written out activated something in my brain and the mindset shift occurred. Suddenly thoughts like “Tomorrow I will eat a little less.” or “I should take a 3-hour break between meals.” or “Let me move more so today looks better than yesterday.”, just came automatically.

This was not a forced discipline. It was my awareness building itself, step by step, day by day. Writing makes you notice, and noticing makes change feel effortless.

This was my Fitness Tracker that made me feel Accountable. On each page, I wrote the details of my food, exercise, and sleep. But on the last page of the diary, I added a simple summary table or a snapshot of the essentials for each day-

Steps count - xxx nos.

Minutes of exercise/physical activity - xxx mins

Ate sweets? (Yes/No)

Ate junk food? (Yes/No)

Took painkillers? (Yes/No)

You could also add like...Any substance habits? Count or Yes/No

This tiny table became a powerful motivator for me. When you see a streak of “No sweets for 10 days” or “7000+ steps for a week,” you want to keep going and at the end of each month, summarizing the table shows you your progress in one clear snapshot (no apps/subscription required).

Over time, this simple system made me want to improve the numbers and patterns I was recording. I started moving more, resting better, and eating more mindfully, not because I had to, but because I wanted to.

The results showed- by October 2025, I was down to 93 kg, a loss of 13 kg in seven months with NO fad diets, NO extreme workouts, WITH several cheat days (my tracker motivated me to compensate in the next days after a cheat day). The results were the outcome of just a mind shift created by awareness.

Before you judge, let me clarify that I am not at my ideal weight/fitness goal yet. I still have a long way to go.

But the improvement is real and meaningful, and that is exactly why I wanted to share this for those who need. Some people don’t need complicated programs. They just need something simple, sustainable, and effective.

You don’t need extremes or you don’t need to torture yourself. You need awareness, the kind that comes from seeing your own habits clearly and knowing/understanding the side effects. You can't change that you don't see and understand. Also to note that writing it down in a physical notebook I feel is critical and it activates your brain more than any digital tracker.

If you are tired of failing at complicated strategies, try the simplest one- Write things down in your own personal fitness tracker. Track your life and let your own awareness guide your change.

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