This post covers my 8-year journey of hard work in transforming myself from a smoker to a smoke-free, and a 30 kg lighter version!
2017 was a bad year, health-wise. I lost almost all of my energy and gained a whopping 40 kg within a few months, which changed my life and physique beyond recognition.
It felt like someone put me in a time capsule and mailed me back to the dark ages with the energy and the body of a 70-year-old morbidly obese man.
By October 2018, I was tired of being tired, constantly fatigued from being overweight and generally repulsed at my lifestyle.
So I made a decision to get better and started by deciding to stop smoking. I tweeted one simple line — “Getting Better” — with a plan to stop smoking.
What I didn’t expect was that this single public declaration would become an 8-year-long public diary of failures, wins, relapses, and eventual transformation.
I summarise it all in this article today as both a milestone marker for me and an inspirational post for someone looking for motivation on a similar journey of their own.
Phase 1: Quitting Smoking (2018–2019)
This was by far the simplest thing to do. It wasn’t easy, but I knew I had enough willpower, so that doing this would be simple.
The first week was hell. I became irritable, suffered from splitting headaches, and developed flu-like symptoms, including constant coughing and elevated body temperatures.
I even slipped up once, where I consumed hookah on Day 5, but with enough willpower, I just reset the counter and continued onwards. I was tested by my smoking peer group at the time, but I managed to stay true.
By December 2018, I was over one month tobacco-free and had saved my lungs along with financial savings of more than ₹4,000. By February 2019, I proudly announced the 3-month mark of being smoke-free. By then, the cravings had faded, my lungs started clearing again, and I had successfully won the first battle.
Then came phase 2.
Phase 2: The Sugar Wars & First Real Weight Loss (2019)
In May 2019, bolstered by the success of phase 1, I levelled up and added two new 100-day challenges. The first one was consuming no added sugars at all, and the second one was taking the stairs at work instead of the elevators.
I failed the no-sugar challenge on day 1 itself, when a co-worker’s birthday led me to forgetfully consume a chocolate bar. But as before, with an ample amount of willpower, I reset the counter and continued on. The headaches came back, with some more previously experienced symptoms.
The withdrawal symptoms were more intense because I had foolishly been fuelling myself on simple sugars such as sugary drinks, so shifting to stable fuel sources like complex carbohydrates was more challenging than I had anticipated.
But I managed to overcome the challenges, and by August 2019, I had completed both the 100-day challenges.
The results were visible and measurable. A whopping 10 kg weight gone! I was noticeably more active, and I could fit myself into some of my previously discarded clothes from 2018. The temptation to consume sugar had almost disappeared, and I felt unstoppable.
However, my journey was far from smooth and unstoppable as I summarise in phase 3.
Phase 3: COVID Chaos, Nutrition Experimentation, and Relapse (2020)
I tried to build upon the momentum by adding physical exercise to my routine. I started going to the office gym and began early morning neighbourhood jogs.
But COVID entered as a chaotic force that upended a lot of the things I was relying upon. It also led to some personal losses that added a significant amount of stress to my life, leading to an inability to do any form of physical exercise.
Still possessing willpower, I tried to continue by restarting low-sugar eating and fired up the HealthifyMe app to track my nutrition intake.
I added data logging of nutrition, hydration, sleep and heart rate that allowed me to run small experiments with intermittent fasting and other nutrition management strategies. I managed to discover correlations and identify some causal relationships between common health markers and weight loss.
In four weeks, I managed to drop another 5 kg, but it didn’t last. Somehow, all those efforts went to waste as I regained almost all of the previously lost 15 kg weight by the end of 2020.
My willpower reserves were depleted, and the path ahead looked exhaustingly long and sometimes like a dark tunnel, which brings me to phase 4.
Phase 4: The Long Dark Tunnel & Mental Breakthrough (2021–2024)
The people I met and the work environment reminded me a little bit of my forgotten self from before the sudden life upheaval of 2017.
I smoked again briefly in late 2021 and early 2022 but finally declared “never again” and stuck to it.
I managed to lose 10 kg two more times through a combination of ketosis and a little bit of exercise, only to put it all back on the moment I stopped doing things from willpower to see if it stabilised. By this time, I was certain that there was a health blocker somewhere, but it likely wasn’t physical.
And it turned out to be the correct hypothesis. The real breakthrough was mental, not physical.
I went through an arduous, painful journey of re-wiring my beliefs and thought processes to remove the junk and garbage thoughts and add good thoughts. Tons of garbage thoughts had somehow rewired my brain, which was the culprit in the first place, leading to the excessive weight gain in 2017.
The mental transformation was much more difficult than the physical transformations, and previously taken simpler decisions, like eating better and exercising.
This process involved taking myself apart and putting myself back together piece by piece after a thorough examination. I studied my subconscious motivations, hidden reward patterns and deeply embedded thoughts that were leading to certain actions when I was not paying active attention to my actions.
I spent time with therapists, wise people and healthy people who had been through this journey before. The deep self-exploration led to actual measurable results.
More on this here – Regaining control, sanity and eliminating spam
By March 2023, I had finally conquered emotional eating. Journaling work, discussions, and deep spiritual/ soul-cleansing work did what diets and exercises failed to do. They stabilised my mind and cleansed my soul.
Without this mental breakthrough, all the efforts in the physical domain would have relapsed as soon as I stopped or paused the willpower-based actions.
This brings me to phase 5.
Phase 5: The push after the Breakthrough (2025–2026)
I finally saw light again and began the real big push post the breakthrough.
Even though by early 2025, I was back at ~120 kg, I was still mentally the strongest I’d ever been. My biggest enemy? My own surroundings and family, who knowingly or unknowingly kept shoving junk thoughts and garbage foods to me.
I drew a line in the sand and declared war on every “enemy of nutrition.” In late 2025, everything started falling into place.
I designed my own high-protein, zero-junk diet consisting only of defatted soya flour, wheat gluten, and vegetables. Within 4–5 days, I entered the ketosis state (I tested every morning with KetoDiastix strips) — and my body began burning stored fat for fuel.
I paired it with daily bodyweight exercise: 120 push-ups, 120 sit-ups, plus slight weight lifting through dumbbells.
In one specific week, I managed to do 250 pushups and 250 situps daily. On two specific days, I managed to do 500 push-ups!
Of course, results speak louder than words and here are mine
| December 2025 | 120 kg to 100 kg | -20 kg weight loss |
| Feb 2026 | 100 kg to 95 kg | -5 kg weight loss |
| March 2026 | 95 kg to 90 kg | -5 kg weight loss |
I can clearly see body recomposition. The 2016 clothes fit again, and I’m additionally beginning to feel the energy levels that almost match the 2016 energy levels, which were lost, forgotten or unavailable over the last decade.
I’m roughly 30 kg down from my heaviest and still going strong.
Lessons, learning and takeaways
Health isn’t a 30-day challenge or a fancy gym membership. It’s years of showing up even after you’ve failed multiple times.
It’s fixing your mind before your body. It’s protecting your environment from people who consciously or unconsciously sabotage health.
Quitting smoking was just the starting point to a better life. The real prize is the version of me I’m becoming now — consistent, strong, and healthy, not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually too.
I’m not “done” — I’m just getting started on the next 10 kg. If you’re on your own journey — keep tweeting, keep tracking, keep fighting. The compound effect is real, and if you’re looking for motivation, read through this entire thread of ~40 tweets that capture this journey.
What worked for me
- Public accountability
- Strict 100-day challenges
- Data tracking, and statistics (HealthifyMe app, devices — CGM, smart watch, BP monitor, digital counters, KetoDiastix strips)
- Redefining nutrition as an optimisation equation of macro and micro nutrients
- Staying in ketosis through a high-protein zero/low-carb vegetarian diet
- Bodyweight exercise (push-ups and sit-ups) when gym was difficult
- Breathing exercises to regulate energy and stamina
- Fixing emotional/ mental health on priority
- Finding healthy people that supported my health journey
What did NOT work for me
- Gym memberships and external diet courses — both failed
- Strict “no sugar forever” without flexibility — did not last
- Relying on willpower alone — could not form stable habits
- Allowing unhealthy people to give advise — did more harm than good
Health advice that I found true for me
Do your own research and follow as per what applies to your lifestyle.
- Quitting smoking triggers rapid recovery: heart rate drops within minutes, carbon monoxide normalises in 12 hours, lung function improves in 1–3 months, and heart attack risk drops dramatically in 1–2 years.
- Cutting added sugar leads to measurable weight loss (1–2 kg per month possible) and lowers diabetes and heart disease risk even without full calorie counting.
- 16:8 intermittent fasting consistently produces 3–4 kg extra weight loss vs normal eating in overweight adults, with added benefits to cholesterol and blood pressure.
- Entering ketosis (confirmed by urine strips) shifts the body to burn stored fat for fuel and is one of the most effective ways to lose fat mass while preserving muscle.
- Daily bodyweight exercises (push-ups, sit-ups) build functional strength, improve bone density, boost metabolism, and are highly effective for long-term fat loss when done consistently — no gym required.
Pulkit Saraf 