India and weight-loss

Rachel

My friends have gone to India twice now, both times losing several pounds after 4 weeks of travel. I'm wondering if this is something that happens to everyone or is it caused by being sick? Only one girl was sick for a brief amount of time...at least that's all they'll admit to. I wouldn't mind losing a few pounds while I'm in India, but I just don't see how it's possible since I'll be spending most of my time eating! Just curious

Colin

I always lose weight in India and I don't have to get sick to do it although it does help.
I think its the combination of eating vegetarian food instead of my usual meat diet and all the extra exercise walking around sightseeing, going to the bank, the post office, the railway station or the bus station etc. etc. etc.....

Mirjam

You don't have to be sick to loose weight in India. The 'normal' Indian food is healthy, with lots of lentils, vegetables, some rice and curd, and in combination with the heat you just loose weight even if you stay healthy and eat normal and three times a day (at least.... I do!). But I have to add that I am not very fond of the Indian sweets, I guess if you eat them a lot... it's different. Otherwise, I eat a lot in India because it's my favourite food.

picklepak

I remember sitting on a beach with a group of travelers, joking about how in India men always seem to lose weight and women seem to gain it. Hmm, I will no doubt be fleeced for making such comments here...


I do agree with Mirjam and Colin however. Indian food is generally healthier and you tend to get more exercise when traveling. Even deep fried Indian foods are often healthier than similarly fried foods at home because the oil used may not be hydrogenated at all, or if it is it's to a much lesser extent. Hydrogenation is the process of pumping hydrogen into cooking oils by food vendors, in order to change the boiling temperature, how the food tastes, how long it will last under a heat lamp, etc. McDonalds is famous for hydrogenating the oils used to cook their burgers and fries more than almost any other restaurant, and is a big part of the reason why their food is so very unhealthy (the ingredients seem health enough, but the final product never is). You won't find that so much in India, unless you visit McDonalds there too. A food scientist explained it to me as the difference between saturated (bad) and non-staturated (good) fat... though I'm no expert, and at the moment I'm just dreaming of walking up to a pani puri stall...

Merchant

You also lose a lot of water weight sweating, as it's hot and you tend to be more active on your trip than you might at home. You should never pass up an opportunity to drink water (bottled). If the air is dry, or you are riding in an unairconditioned ambassador with the windows down, you are sweating--and losing water--without realizing it. Notice how little you have to pee in India.

open_air

I think you actually have to start watching out for not gaining weight when you are staying in a big city for more then a couple of days. For me itÕs really about the amount of exercise I do, and in the cities I walk relatively very little and starts to gain.

Tomi

I agree with all the posters. I'd add that you eat less quantity of the food when it's spicy. A full meal, beyond the fact that it's less saturated, is in smaller portions than Western food.
I too love Indian food and never got sick, but in two months I lost about 8 pounds. And I had beer and street snacks as well as regular meals.

bijapuri

wgen I was young, I lost weight
When I was not so young, it stayed level
once I passed 45, I have gained weight when there.

Analysis- this mirrors what happened o me wherever I have been, plus the fact that each tyime I return to India I eat a little higher up in price, At 53, to maintain a healthy waight in USA, I basically live off veggies and fish, haven't seen a burrito in years
but when in India (or in Milpitas for my weekly hindi class) it's tandoori time!

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lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

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bijapuri

addendum:
being you meant being a fool, whichmeant being sick a lot in India, everything from Janudice to perforated ulcers. When sick in India you REALLY drop the weight. Now I'm smart, healthy, and get fat looking at food!

bijapuri

cant spell tonight- being YOUNG neant being a fool

IainC

This is a good thread. I lose about 1lb(half a kilo) a week just by being there, and I don't get sick. The amount I lose doubles if I am trekking and I eat like a horse when on a trek. Like a lot of westerners I am normally a bit overweight, so after a trip to India I come home looking very fit and healthy, but a problem would occur if you are already of slight build and underweight before you get there. Whatever your weight, just eat and drink lots when you are there!
IainC.

Dr Funkenstein

This is all good news to me.

I could do with shedding a few tons, sorry pounds, so am looking forward to losing weight by sitting around doing nothing.

Somehow I don't think it'll be quite the same with me, though.

Tandoori - Mmmmmmmmmm ... *drools*

beach

I have a different theory.

Biologically speaking fat is a blanket beneath the skin protecting the body core from heat loss. This is the second function of fat. The first being acting like a battery to store energy from the ‘extra’ food we eat. This is why people who eat more get more ‘charged’ with fat.

In a cold place people tend to eat more (any comments?). Apart from supplying energy for work and keep the core of body warm a thick beneath the skin blanket is also required as a biological function. A fat chap shiver less than a thin one in the cold! In a hot place you don’t need that much of fat on the body.

The food has been evolved accordingly. Indian food generally is not fatty( Paneer Mutter lovers and Indian sweet addicts excuse me!)
I think this is the reason and not people become ‘sick’ the reason behind loosing weight.

(What about the fat Indians. Chocolate? God alone knows)

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Hampi info

wonderwomanusa

Add to all of that ...there are more stairs here in India than "back home." Often, to get out of the train station, we have to walk UP 30-some stairs to a pedestrian bridge, and then climb down to the exit platform. Many hotel rooms are up one or two floors and unless you're living very high on the price scale, there's no lift.

In Delhi, there are pedestrian underpasses to get around Connaught Circle -- another 20-or-so stairs up and down for each one.

By the time I got to Lucknow, I'd lost about 4kg, though I might have put it back on when I discovered mashed potatoes in Puri!

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gweno' bribri

I've been loosing weight during my first 4 months in India, not being sick, just adapting to new work, new food, new life. But 2 weeks spent in indian families in Kerala have changed the end of the story, as I've gained e few kg going through, wedding, christmas, breakfas, lunch, tea, dinner... The good news is : I ate great food you wouldn't find in any restaurant