Kicking Kapha Ass

So I’ve been losing weight lately. I wish this was a less Twinkies, more treadmill kind of story, but it’s not. Losing weight has always been a bitch-slapping fight for me, a kind of epic battle that I never really managed to win over the last 39 years or so.

In fact, I don’t even remember a time when I was not either on a diet, off a diet, or on a-oh-my-God-I-can’t-believe-I-ate-a-whole-jar-of-Nutella-with-a-soup-spoon diet. Insane? Maybe. But this has been my experience so far with weight control, and unfortunately I have no other basis for normalcy that I can compare it to.

What I do have, however, is plenty of strength. And access to knowledge. And open-mindedness. And I have my Teacher who took one look at me last May, and declared me a grossly out-of-balance Kapha dominant. Great I thought. One more medical system in which I can embarrass myself, this time with millennium-old guidelines.

Looking further into Ayurveda did not provide much comfort either. The three characteristics of a Kapha reducing diet are pungent, astringent and bitter. The only food that came to mind that encompassed all three, was, hum, radishes. Yeah for delicious and satisfying.

Then again, I was desperate. And really, really big. Way too close to 300-pounds-big on a 5 ft. 8 frame. I like to think that I am big-boned, but I know that at this point I was big-EVERYTHING.

So three months ago I started this journey, and so far I have lost a little over 30 pounds. I work on contentment, taking it one day at a time, enjoying the four senses that have been underused while I fed the fifth Oreos and foie gras.

I’m also getting help. While Ayurveda helps me bathe nutritional information in a new light, maintaining my motivation requires a more muscled approach. I stepped up my yoga practice to four times a week and finally cancelled that gym membership that I maintained out of pure denial that I hated going there.

I also breathe, and rest plenty. Turns out my Kapha dosha has to cope with quite a bit of Pitta, and Vatta, and that I am not naturally heavy and depressed, but hyper and restless. While this is not necessarily good news, I will learn to cope with it, just like I will learn to coexist with this new fit and supple body that I’m slowly uncovering.