How to Lose Weight as a Buddhist Monk
Introduction
I recently lost about 10 Kg which is over 20 pounds. I’d like to share with you how I gained weight and how I also lost it. It is common for senior monks to gain weight, perhaps due in part to aging, as seniority implies being older. Even though we don’t eat after Solar Noon, gaining weight still can happen. However, if we really want to, we can all easily lose weight…“if we want to”. A 36 minute video version of this post is found at this link below. It is different from this written post, and you migth like to read and watch both.
No Mountains to Climb
My weight has been fairly stable for the past 23 years at about 74 Kg. It would fluctuate maybe +- 3 or 4 Kg but it started to creep up to 75 or 76 Kg. However, when I moved to The International Institute of Theravada (IIT), in Sri Lanka, things started to change. At Pa-Auk and Na-Uyana we had literal mountains to climb each day, several times per day to get to the meditation hall. However, at IIT, we don’t have any mountains in this rice-paddy-area.
Senior-Size Me 1
For most of my monk life, I was either junior or nothing special was done for me as I got older in monk years. I also lost 6 years when I reset my ordination. At IIT, I’m the 2nd most senior resident monk next to the abbot. With that, I get a junior helper monk to arrange my tray and clean my kuṭi. This helper is called an “Upaṭṭhāko”. My first helper was very helpful and he actually told me,
“If the Upaṭṭhāko is good, then the monk will gain weight.”
He said this because if the Upaṭṭhāko gives lots of food and prepares it well, the monk he serves will gain weight. He was good indeed! By his standards, his service was so good that it contributed to my gaining 6 Kgs. The reason why I gained weight was the extra food he would bring to me. Normally we use the same bowl everyday and we can know what is the proper portion of food to take each day by the way the food sits in the bowl. However, there was one problem. The “extra” food comes on a tray each day. After I would take the proper amount of food, there was extra food waiting for me. Below is a picture of my neighbor’s tray who also has a helper. I don’t see any cakes and biscuits on his tray, so maybe he is on a diet as well. While the tray itself is not so harmful, this tray comes after we fill our bowls to the correct amount.
When I Decided To Lose Weight
During my sabai trip to Thailand, I visited Laos for a two day trip. On our way back over the Thai border, we met up with an old supporter from Kaua’i. The supporter does not speak much English, but one of her first words to me was,
“You got fat.”
Normally, when you see someone after a few years, you might note the changes. If the person gained weight (or lost weight), it is one of the first things you might notice, and even point it out in a friendly way. Hearing this was very beneficial for me. I knew I was getting heavier, but did not realize it because the change was slow and gradual. That was when I decided I needed to take action and lose weight.
(Me At The Lao Thai Friendship Bridge)
The Stats
While my normal weight floats just below 75 Kg, I was up to 81 or (I’m still in denial),maybe even 82 kg once. This past Friday morning I was at 70.7 Kg.
- Pounds __ Kgs
- 148.75 ___ 67.5
- 154.25 ___ 70.0
- 159.75 ___ 72.5
- 165.25 ___ 75.0
- 170.75 ___ 77.5
- 176.25 ___ 80.0
- 181.75 ___ 82.5
How I Lost Weight
I have lost weight slowly and steadily for almost a year now. We all know that losing weight slowly is better for you, but why is that? If you lose weight slowly, over a long period of time, the habit and change in lifestyle sinks in. That is why it is healthier. A short term diet is just a temporary fix and when the target weight is reached one goes back to his old habits. The laws of physics apply universally, meaning energy consumption is consistent across individuals unless health issues, such as poor digestion, affect it.2 In that case, you can eat more with less trouble.
Buddha’s Advice on Eating
Anūpavādo anūpaghāto…..Not to insult and not to injure;
Pāṭimokkhe ca saṃvaro…..To live restrained by training rules;
Mattaññutā ca bhattasmiṃ…..Knowing one’s measure at the meal;
Pantañca sayan’āsanaṃ…..Retreating to a lonely place;
Adhicitte ca āyogo…..Devotion to the higher mind:
Etaṃ buddhāna sāsanaṃ…..These are the teachings of all Buddhas.
(Dhammapada v185)
The first thing I did was tell the monk who makes the tray of extra food to limit what is given to me. Over the course of almost a year, I have gradually dropped things I don’t need such as afternoon juice, and plain tea (with sugar), for lunch and breakfast. If there is yogurt, I ask for just a few spoons and without syrup. I still eat snacks everyday, like cakes and biscuits but smaller amounts.
Of course there is a reduction in the normal food I eat at breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is just a smoothie and a small snack to raise my blood sugar in the morning. I’ve recently brought back milk tea, which I should probably give up again. However, it is there and not doing much harm. As for tray food, I can make the determination that once I put a dish down, and put the cover over it, then I won’t take it again. In this way, I can take a few bites of this or that on the tray in front of me without taking too much. The easy part as a monk is not having food around us outside of our meal times.
Our daily chants have content on how we should use the four requisites. Below is the one that deals with food. Here it is below:
Wisely reflecting, I use alms-food not for fun, not for pleasure, not for fattening, not for beautification, only for the maintenance and nourishment of this body, for keeping it healthy, for helping with the Holy Life; thinking thus, I will allay hunger without overeating, so that I may continue to live blamelessly and at ease.
Using The Monk’s Rules
We have many rules regarding food and not eating. For instance we are not allowed to eat anything that has not been offered to us. We are also not allowed to eat after Solar Noon. We are not allowed to store food. There are many other rules, but these three rules can help us lose weight more easily.
- I don’t eat after Solar Noon and essentially practice intermittent fasting everyday.
- I don’t have any food near me outside of eating time so I’m not allowed to snack.
- Once the food is renounced (I’m finished eating), I don’t eat that food again.
- The food needs to be given to me by lay people or novice monks and is a difficult task outside of mealtimes and before Solar Noon.
While these rules and benefits can help one lose weight or maintain an ideal weight, it’s notable that I managed to gain some weight regardless. However, these rules can be useful in managing weight.
Using Dhamma: Impermanence of Eating
No matter how great something can taste. You cannot stay in that state of enjoyment for any great length of time. So what is the point of eating something fattening and great tasting for 5 minutes over 1 minute? There is really not much of a difference. But it is not just one or five minutes. Each individual taste only lasts for a split second. Eating is a stream of individual drops hitting the tongue’s taste buds and we always want to keep that data stream flowing. It is just like drinking that last bit of drink through a straw that makes that slurp noise which does not amount to anything. We think it is pleasurable but it is just an illusion. Try to reflect on this and things get easier. In fact, when you think of it that way, it is easier to do without completely.
Exercise
(Swimming Pool at IIT)
For the most part of my weightloss, I did nearly zero exercise besides going for alms with my bowl on the weekends. I sometimes used to jokingly refer to that as the sport of “Bowling.” However, someone recently offered a pool to the monastery and now I do laps in the pool four or five times per week. When I first started swimming, I got very tired quickly, just after swimming two laps. However, now I’m much stronger and I have been slowly increasing my laps. Yesterday was 40 laps without the need to take a break. I can go longer, but I don’t have the time. It was with swimming that I started to actually gain weight again. I think it was from the small amount of muscle mass I was building back that I lost from old age and “doing nothing”.
Habit Is Lifestyle Change
I have gotten used to this routine and decided to keep it. That was when I realized a new habit has formed from slowly losing weight. The weight loss seems to have slowed down to a crawl now, and I think my bodyweight has stabilized. Nevertheless, I am losing weight very slowly. My target was 73 kg, but now I’m 70.7 kg.
The Real Achievement
The goal is to reach Nibbāna and to conquer our desires. It should be a no-brainer for a monk to lose weight compared to the final goal of Nibbāna. For the most part, I have maintained a steady weight over the past 23 years as a monk. However, there was just a six month period where things crept up on me. I now have things back under control and I feel good about it, and that is why I wanted to share it with you. Food is not a trival thing when contemplating the Dhamma. I hope that this can help you with your own issues with food, and dhamma contemplations. I hope you can grow in the Dhamma and reach Nibbāna safely and quickly.
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