Hi all,

Firstly excuse me Meena for being out of touch from the blog.I was in India then came back with loads of extra weight which i had with much effort, as per me, reduced to certain extent. Now am trying to take time out again to hit the gym , but with my little one along its's getting difficult these days. But all your posts are so motivating and Meena specially yours, as i have seen you lately. You were looking so nice, your hard work is paying off !! I wish i could join you with the exercise !

Anyways, hope to get on the road soon !!

Cheers !

Pooja

Slow and Steady?

Hello everybody!

Yes, Joice, it looks like none of us have been to this page in a long time. I can only hope that everybody else is making more progress than myself in the matter! My husband and I recently moved into a new apartment, and are slowly settling down- and since setting up the kitchen and organising it is also included in the slowly-settling-down bit- you can only imagine what that means!

But I'm back on track again (this time with a broken weighing machine!! What did I ever do wrong?!?!), and I do have a few things to share with the group.

First off, counting calories.

I found a great new application for my smartphone called MyFitnessPal. If you don't have a smartphone, you don't need to fret, because the good news is that MyFitnessPal is available on the internet too! Here is a screen shot of my login page:

This is a good way to keep track of the calories you've consumed on a daily basis, and if you're registering your calories after every meal like I mostly do, it's a great way to determine how much to eat for dinner to stay within your calorie bracket. For the last few days, I've been logging my daily diet record on the application; and what's REALLY great about it is that it has a database of over 750,000 foods with an accurate count of calories! What's EVEN BETTER is that if the food item that you've consumed is not on their database, you can re-create the recipe and it'll give you an item by item count of the calories that went into your meal :)

You can also make an exercise diary, which I think does not have as exhaustive a database as the diet diary does, but it has the essentials: walking, running, aerobics, yoga, etc.

Second update: Zumba.

We recently purchased a PS 3. Now we're not gaming freaks, but we got it to hook it up to Netflix to watch some of our fave movies. The store happened to have a Zumba party game and I tried it out two days in a row, and I gotta tell you... the 20 minute beginner workout is more challenging than I ever imagined!

For those not in the know, Zumba is a form of aerobics infused with Latin hip-and-booty-shakin' dance techniques. So you're basically getting a heavy aerobic workout and having fun at the same time!

I've always wanted to learn Zumba, and now I know that it's great fun too! I only wish I didn't have to do it alone though. Oh well, it's a start :)

So I'll be back with a weight update soon. As of the last time, my goal was set to losing at least 40 lbs (turns out I did put on quite a bit after the wedding! sniff sniff)... so let's see how I well I do once we get the weighing machine fixed.

Till then, take care!

Progress

Its been a long time since I opened this site and looks like its the same story with the members. With my family falling sick one after the other, working from home on the bad days etc I hardly had the time to think about diets and exercise. But I must be doing something right when to my utter disbelief I found that I had lost a full kg (a miniscule amount, I know) and I felt like I had dropped 10. So, now its 1 down and 12 more to go to reach my target weight. After losing this 1 kg, I feel so impatient to lose 10 more kgs. I havent started exercising yet, and have started being a little more active at home and work. while feeding my child, I make sure the plate is far away, so that for each bite I need to walk at least 10-15 steps. And I just play more physical games (such as running and jumping around for no reason) with my older child and also walk around from one room to the other tidying the place up (instead of taking 5-6 items at 1 go, I take each one individually). So, in a way I'm trying to incorporate some form of increased activity in my life. Also, I've started counting calories and it really helps since now I think twice before sinking my teeth into some mouthwatering dishes. I really hope to lose 8-10 kgs by end of this year. So keeping my fingers crossed. How is everyone else doing with thier journey?

Found & Lost!

Hi there,
Finally, I have some good news to report. I found my weighing scale ...AND...lost two kilos! Woohoo! So those five days a week of workout are finally paying off. Two kilos in one month....23 more to go...:)

For some reason, I'm unable to post comments against each post. So here's something I wrote for you, Joice:

"Awesome! Congrats on getting back into the game. :) I spend about 30 minutes on cardio (usually the bike), spend another 15 minutes working on weights and spend another 15 minutes on abs and core. One hour every working day. I take the weekends off. I also make sure I stick to food portions. Seems to work so far. I'm also seeing this as a lifestyle change rather than a quick weightloss thing, so I'm working hard to build my inner discipline regarding health...which seems a lot harder than any physical activity at the gym! :) Did you think about, maybe, working with a personal trainer for a few sessions to help tailor your training?"
Cheers,
M

Getting back in the game.

Hey Anjana, great tips. I've read so much over the last few years and most of the information is all known. But sometimes its just so difficult to stick to the right food. There were quite a lot of good opportunities I missed to get back into shape. I'm back on the waggon now and instead of cutting down on all types of food, I'm learning to choose and substitute. With majority of the family celebrations out of the way, I am now be free of any temptations. While in Las Vegas for 2 weeks 2.5 years back, I had actually lost weight and was looking slimmer and fitter by the time I landed back in Dubai. The walking and the fresh air did wonders for our health. Also, I've made a decision to do my workouts early in the morn (the hardest part is getting out of bed at 5:30) so that I can look after my kids once I'm back from work. I started today with 20 minutes on the treadmill and 20 minutes on the rowing machine. Slowly, I need to increase my time to 1.5 hours of exercise. Any suggestions for the best type/combination of exercise to lose inches and the weight?

Eat Out, Eat Smart

Thanks for the welcome, Meena... although I do have to say that for my second post, I'm not doing too well on the diet/workout routine! My husband and I planned a long weekend trip to Las Vegas and despite all that we promised ourselves, we were just not able to stick to our diets! But exercise was a-plenty with all the walking around and sightseeing that was to be done. We do feel a little bad about it since we just started a week back, but instead of crying over spilt milk, we're steadily getting back to the diet (since I'm in charge of the kitchen!) and workout routine.

Thing is, on a weight loss program, you can monitor your diet as long as you're in charge of your own food. But sometimes you run into situations that just can't be helped- like a birthday party at work, or a friend's wedding, or (in my case) a vacation. It's alright if this happens only once in a while (and by that I mean at least once every 10-15 days!) because you can always make up for it by being extra careful for the next two days. However, if things like that happen more often than that, that's trouble.

Living the student life when I was trying to shed the pounds was also difficult, what with snacking to keep you up late nights. It was even worse because I used to hang out with a bunch of people who weren't fat at all, and somehow hungry all the time. I remember making excuses (which was more like lying) or even feigning illness to get away from their binge parties so I could stay on track. Once, some friends brought along with them some Dalwada (my favorite snack at that point) and I quickly escaped to the canteen where I sipped on sugarless tea until I was sure not even a crumb of the calorific monster remained to tempt me when I got back!

But then of course, there are times when you can't, and just to make sure you don't go overboard, here are a few tips from my personal experience on ways to stay within your diet while eating out:

1. Personally, I choose eating joints with respect to what I can eat which'll help me stay on course. Kebab joints where you can get a half tandoori chicken are my favorites. Try to order only one roti (no butter, no naan) to the side, but it's quite filling even without any form of carbohydrate to go with it.

2. Avoid rice or refined flour: try to stick to wheat as far as possible.

3. If you're a non-vegetarian, choose white meats like chicken and fish. I've heard that some cuts of red meat are lean, but I don't usually prefer those if I'm trying to eat light.

4. Clear soups are a great way to start your meal and make sure you don't go overboard with the main course.

5. If it's an Udipi joint, rava dosai without oil is a good option, and very, very filling!

6. Lastly, STAY AWAY FROM DESSERT. Even if the tag says low fat, don't be swayed!!

There is also one joint you can trust to help you stay on course always - Subway! I was loyal to the only branch in the city that was close to where I lived and it paid off. That guy on the advertisement who lost 111lbs is for real, people. Choose a wheat bread and preferably no sauces, but if you can't do without them, then here are the safe choices: mustard and chilli sauce. Sorry, the rest of them are all Mayo-based.

Well, that's all for me for now. I'll try to post some quick-fix low cal recipes of my own the next time.

Till then, keep at it! :)

Feb update: Meena

Hi all,
First things first: Welcome on board, Anjana! Your post has instantly livened up the blog. But I guess I expected that from an veteran blogger. :) I'm glad you joined and posted your goals & challenges on this blog. For me, this blog has been (and continues to be) a big motivator in my 'battle against the bulge'. There is something about publicly admitting my weight loss goal that drives me harder to try and reach it.

My update: In the last three weeks, I've managed to dedicate 1 hour every weekday to workout. I spend about 25-30 minutes on the bike. I cycle for about 14-17 kms. I'm not a big fan of cardio, but push myself to reach the 17 km mark within 25 minutes. And then I do weights, which I love. I do upper body one day and lower body the next. I do abs and core everyday.

So, have I lost weight? I don't know yet! Following a moment of weakness after my commitment to do monthly weigh-ins, I hid my weighing scale somewhere in my house (it was rather difficult not to weigh myself every week) and I cannot, for the life of me, remember where I put it. So, we'll have to assume I'm losing weight. But I do feel like I'm losing inches. Meanwhile, the search for the weighing scale is still on at home.

That's it from me for now. Will update you more soon. :)
Meena