Being home :)

Just when I thought life was spewing venom at me being a bit difficult for me, I got to enjoy an unintended 4 day vacation at home. Maami rushed off on some personal work and needed a couple of days off. I took the opportunity to be home, bond with the toddler and just chill!!!

 

There is always something about "home" that makes it so good. I tell people, I can usually shut myself up inside my home and just live there happily ever after. Seriously, its that bad. And with a permanent house help, sometimes, being home alone is a luxury. Since that collided with little guy's birthday, we had a good time - went mall shopping (something I rarely do!), ate at the food court in the mall and even ended the day with ice cream. But that's another story!

 

Yes, the Scientist never fails to lure me with the tempting offers like pizza from Papa john's, ice cream from Swensens/ Hagen Daaz, a dinner at California Pizza Kitchen or Chilli's and the like. The Scientist and I are very similar on those lines - we both love to live life up and usually never think twice about running high restaurant bills. In fact I tell the Scientist that if we stop eating out we'd easily save about 10k a month...

 

But its not about the meal many times, it's the good quality time we get as a family free from the " is Maami overhearing" worry. Sometimes, like running, going out is liberating!!!

 

Anyway,  being home with the toddler gave me some priceless moments and I gave it another serious thought - the stay at home mom thingie. Well I'm still thinking, so the official result is not out yet!!! But yes spending time at home tending to my baby and home really warmed up my heart. There is something so gratifying about house work and family work that junking a career does not seem like a bad idea at all! Sometimes its nice to be reminded that at home I am loved, needed and looked forward to - emotions that are so easily forgettable in the routine hum drum of a working couple's life!

 

The dance of the hormones has led me to a little bit of the munchies - I ate some spoilt chocolate (from the US trip), some good candy a have had a little bit more sugar in my chais than I do usually. Time to get back to the real world, I guess!

 

 

Eating right - Taming the mind!

Hi guys!!!

I guess I done being upset and have cheered up and ready to roll!!!

I have been eating REALLY healthy! This last weekend made me realize that I might be an all new person! The Scientist's brother and his wife are moving to Bangalore soon, and there were here scouting for a home and all! We were on our toes the whole weekend and spent some real good family time. Even though there were a couple of lunches out I still stuck to my eating plan. At home also I did not greedily lap up the carby goodness I made for the family. I balanced it out well, eating a small part of that and primarily filling up with the vegetable and fruit I planned for myself!

I have learnt over the last 2 1/2 years to not be shy of the effort I am putting into weight loss. Like I tell people I am not interested in dessert or pizza since I am working mighty hard in the direction of shedding the pounds.  When people look at my plate and ask why the bread is missing I am not shy of telling them that I am working on cutting the carbs since that has lately really hindered my weight loss numbers.

Infact when we were out to an official party in the Scients's workplace on Saturday, even though I served myself a piece of chocolate fudge, a scoop of ice cream and a liberal helping of gajjar ka halwa, I did not get past only a few bites of the halwa and decided to trash my plate after having eaten only the chocolate fudge which was -divine!!! The old me would have easily polished off that plate and possibly even gone for a second round!!

Taming my mind has been a long painstaking effort. Many days I crave for a little sweet after lunch. My mind does dart to the chocolate Reeses that I have stored in my pantry. But I ably manage with sugar free mint or some seedless dates! That does not however mean that I have become a food Hitler of sorts!! I still take my tea and coffee with sugar. I also allow myself a couple of sweet breakfasts like a mixed dal kheer which I make with jaggery or a pumpkin custard ocassionally. I continue to eat bananas, chikoos and mangoes!!

The difference is that now I can put my fork down easily and say I'm done eating! Mostly it has been the reward of having a healthy body that has kept me going forward even in the recent time when I felt like I was going through a tough phase! In the past I would eat if I was sad! Or happy.

Changing ones eating habits is VERY hard. You can't revolutionize over night. Its small steps, falls, going back and retracing that will take you a long long way to reaching any goal. Having gone through most of that battle myself and still facing that food temptation many times, let me assure it's possible. Its only a question of turning that switch on in your mind!

The Hagen Daaz trip

Last Friday evening, the toddler slept early. The husband was home and I had resisted suggesting we could go out for dinner. Food is still my go to way of celebrating! But I am working pretty hard on delinking food and happiness.

So after we had a simple homecooked dinner of idli sambar we were contemplating what we were to do with the time available.

Me: Shall we go out for a walk?

Scientist: Yes, we'll walk to Hagen Daaz and back.

Me: But I don't want ice cream ok. I won't eat any. You can, if you like.

Scientist: But this has been on our to do list of things for long. This is the perfect time.

Me: Ok lets go.

So as planned we walked the 3.5 kms to the newly opened Hagen daaz (ice -cream/ dessert outlet). Mapmywalk showed that I had burnt a measly 155 calories in the 40 minutes it took us to get there, and I thought we walked pretty fast. The husband ordered a belgian hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and ice cream. I took a look at the fancy menu and decided nothing really excited me.

The hot chocolate with whipped cream - the whipped cream is almost over in this pic :)  and I admit I had a few sips, ok? But I though the 155 calories covered it :P

The Scientist was pretty irritated by the fact that I refused to order anything. Single scoop of ice cream, he asked? No. I resisted. I told him I worked way too hard to lose weight and did not want to spoil it by eating an ice cream which I was not even tempted by. I was just. not.tempted. Period.

And that's a new me, let me tell you. I think the old me would not even think of not ordering. I mean how can you go to an ice cream store and not have ice cream? Nowadays when I look at a food, I wonder how many calories it has and if I have the nutritional information, I almost immediately calculate how hard / long it would be for me to work it off. Honestly, I dont even want to eat the food, and i mean something like a huge serving of dessert when I don't have the calorie stats.

Before anyone thinks I have achieved the likes of a dietary perfection I must admit to have eaten donuts for lunch, constantly sweeten my curd with a bit of sugar and  indulge in my 80 calorie serving of ghirardelli dark chocolate squares on weekends. Even yesterday someone distributed laddoos in office. They had left one on my table while I was in a metting. My intitial thought was to not eat it. But somehow it did find a way inside my tummy!

But I think I have steered clear of eating a whole packet of cream biscuits, large desserts and incessantly eating the chocolates that are lying in my pantry/ cupboard until my supply runs out. I used to do it, you know? Small progress, but progress nonetheless.

While the Scientist understood my thoughts that day even though he started out pretty bugged, I think he also came face to face with the new me. Infact I did too:

Yay!! Holiday!

Welcome holiday in the beginning of the week!

I presumed there would be no body pump class. I turned off my alarm and went back to sleep. The gilt worm caught up with me at 7 o clock and I made a sleepy call to the gym to find out if they were open. Yes, came the reply. So I weighed myself, promptly got into my tracks and scooted off to the gym. The truth is I know I feel so much better when I do go, even if I do the non-designated work out for the day. Exercise also keeps my eating in check and makes me feel agile, strong and energetic. I know I say this all too often here. But I repeat, just in case anyone reading this can cut their excuse for the day and actually get some form of exercise in. It is also a reinforcement for me to remind myself that the hardest part is just getting my butt out of the house. Once out, I always do good!

I cycled for 20 mins until I felt the lactic acid burn my thighs, then claimed my turn on the RFX for 15 short but intense minutes and then went to the elliptical. Man, I found it so lam. Really! I thinking running and spinning and pumping has really strengthened my legs!  Oh, and also I saw a guy walk backwards on the treadmill. First it was walking backwards in the park. Now the treadmill too? Sometimes these fitness trends are wierd, no?

Anyway I stretched without the tension of having to reach home ASAP. I got home, fixed us all breakfast. Cleared the fridge of leftovers, and am planning a lunch date with the husband at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). The CPK here , I found is far better than the original CPK of california :P. Now I can compare and all. I might also get new running shoes. I'm off to enjoy the day. Hope you guys have a good one too.

Cheers!

What makes food so tempting? The reality behind weight loss efforts

Sometimes, I wonder what it is about food that makes it so tempting. That which I have eaten oodles of in life still stays as tempting the next time I set my eyes on it. Last night I went to the airport straight from work to pick up the Scientist and Chittu. My smaller sized lunches now mean that I can barely survive on it till I get home in the evening. Once I do, I make myself a substantial snack or early dinner depending upon how hungry I am and what I am planning to eat. So last evening, as I alighted in the airport bus stop, I was HUNGRY. I headed straight to a shop where I bought an omlette sandwich (brown bread please!). I decided that was dinner, since it was pretty heavy.

However, once the Scientist landed up, and as we were taxing home, he asked about dinner outside. I declined saying I had already eaten. See I am trying to stay focused. Pizza then? Maami is not there too! Oopsie. Temptation begins. Ok. I’ve had dinner, so just order for yourself I told him. What was supposed be a single medium sized pizza turned into a medium pizza + garlic bread+ pepsi because there was a deal. Gosh! The deceitful ways of these junk food selling people. How attractive they make it all seem!

Anyway, fast forward and soon the pizza was at the door step. I had a small size of pizza then a bite of the garlic bread and some gulps of pepsi because, oh my!  that food made me nauseous! Yes it did. And I’m not saying it merely because its sour grapes. But that pizza yesterday made me feel nauseous and my stomach queasy. When I woke up in the middle of the night for Chittu’s milk, I eyed the box of candy lying the fridge. Candy from Germany! I told the Scientist to take it away from my eyesight, because I have no control over chocolate. And so I ate four bite sized pieces of the yummy candy from germany, in the middle of the night! Now that habit of mine, is a terrible one, because once I start its pretty hard to stop and I had kind of stopped that horrid habit!

Anyway, the point of this is that I don’t know why I ate all that yesterday. I ate it because it was just there in front of my eyes. Not because I craved chocolate or pizza or pepsi. Now that’s not a good thing, is that?

I did not however hurt myself this morning. I began with a sweaty cardio work out and a wholesome nutritious breakfast. I will try to keep food light today and up the water intake. I will step on the scale a bit later and hopefully will not  go back to eating mindlessly like that!

How to handle temptation? I really need help there!

The return of the Whirlwind Weekend

True to my promise, I am back with the Whirlwind Weekend posts. According to the Scientist, we drove 150 kms this weekend. Just within the city. Meeting friends, eating out, family time and socializing time. I also caught up on sweet sleep though, and was able to face a cheery Monday morning!

Saturday began with a personal training session and I was left a feeling that my arms were dangling from my shoulders on a really thin thread. I returned home for a light breakfast in view of a possibly heavy lunch. We basically went across the city to meet some friends, then there was lunch followed by an airport visit!At lunch I ordered a big bowl of soup and skipped the bread. For ane arly dinner, I had a high-protein smoothie at the airport with a brown bread sandwich which were so yummy that I failed to notice that little Chittu was coming crashing to the ground along with a chair, whose headrest he was trying to conquer like a throne.

We returned home and hit the sack early, along with the little guy. Sunday, we planned pizza for lunch at a new US based Pizza chain, in view of Maami’s impending return. Lunch was hearty and a different pizza with plenty of veggies on a thin crust. Dessert was skipped and I curled up next to Chittu for a noonly siesta. As I was dozing off, I remembered it was my Brother’s birthday. So the call was made and we met for dinner. We ordered so much that we packed home most of the main course. Yummy food, I must say!

With Maami’s return and the end of April, we are limping back to normalcy. The good news and bad news came and went. And although I have not lost much weight, at least I have not put on any. No inch loss too. Just the same old me!

Although its going to be the month of May, I SHALL start it off with added power. Foodwise, there’s plenty of scope for correction. Better plans on the anvil. More accountability needed too. Regular blogging shall return. Mood will be uplifted. It may be the month of May but this is going to be a Shall month!

Will see you soon with April's round up and May's shalls!

Whirlwind weekend again! Shoe shopping, Salon Appointment, Pizza time & A Movie!

This weekend was awesome. Once again! I Two days of missing gum during the last week was well compensated. Saturday, I did the dance aerobics group class at 7 a.m. Came back home, had my proten shake using half an apple, milk, curd and protein powder. Then it was lunch time. My brother joined us for a simple home cooked lunch followed by musk melon and custard for a simple, yet refreshing dessert.

The toddler went off to sleep early, and we caught up with a movie - Kahaani. Awesome!!! Maami wanted to take the evening off, and we headed out for shoe shopping for the little guy. He got reebok berks. And cute light shoes from the oldie-goldie- Bata. Man!! these kids are so lucky. I got my first pair of branded sneakers only two years into law school. And even now, I wait till they are totally worn out, before I bombshell another one!

Dinner was a tradition in Maami's absense - Papa John's pizza. The garlic breadsticks were yummier than ever!!!!

 Sunday began with me contemplating the going to the gym. I reluctantly went, planning a upper body strength training work out. Instead, I did a 5-k run on the treadmill at 9 mins 15 secs for a kilometer. I was elated. Wow!!! I may be able to do a 10-k in May!

Another home cooked lunch, was followed by a noonly siesta.  I love those. Then time for Salon appointment. Finally got a hair cut. Pictures later!!! Then time for veggie shopping. By which time my nose was announcing the arrival of a cold!! Gah! So i had another carb high steaming hot dinner and went to bed early. No gym on Monday though. I don't want to be sick during the vacation!!!

Yes the vacation is almost here. Just need to get through these 5 work days.

Saturday work out update & Recipe promise!

My dinner yesterday looked like this - curried cauliflower, cow pea sundal and a bowl of curd. I had had a heavy evening snack of my protein shake, and my appetite was not ravenous.

Recipe for roasted cauliflower:

Cut the cauli into florets and clean thoroughly, under hot water.

Heat a teaspoon of cooking oil(I use cold pressed seasame oil) in a skillet, add jeera (cumin) and let it splutter. Also add a pinch of turmeric. Pour a little bit of water, cover with a plate and let it cook on medim flame for about 10 minutes.

Remove the plate, check if the cauli is cooked enough and toss with a ladle.

If all the water has disappeared, you will observe that the cauli begins to roast. Let it roast till desired, tossing often. Add salt to tase and curry powder as per requirement, toss again and serve.

Tip: You may add a table spoon of besan (chickpea flour) as it roasts to give it an added crunch & crispiness. Tastes divine, I promise.

Cauliflower is a low calorie vegetable, and being loaded with fibre, is also pretty filling.

Now for the workout update:
Sunday - talked myself out of going
Monday - half hour on treadmill
Tuesday - strength training - upper body
Wednesday - half hour on stationary bike and 10 minutes on treadmill
Thursday - day off
Friday - home work out assorted stretches and exercises
Saturday - one hour dance aerobics

I ate out thrice this week - once at a Lebanese restaurant not watching portions, second at a restaurant serving continental cuisine. I had already eaten a heavy evening meal and therefore did not go overboard - bit bites here & there. Today, Maami took the day off- So we ordered in a pizza. Yes I ate. But again,mindful eating.Yes I must watch this eating out bit. That is a special area that requires work. Sometimes, we go two weeks with no restaurant meals. Some weeks like the last one, make up for the others!!! I don't beat myself up. Just pick up and continue.

Alright. Just peeked to keep up the promise. Scientist is snoring and I'm about to join him.

Whirld wind weekend that ended weirdly!!!

Unbelievable, once again the weekend just whizzed past, leaving me wanting more of it. Both days I skipped the gym, merrily compensating for the sleep I missed over the week. We woke up late on both mornings and sipped chai while leafing through the newspaper. Heaven! I tell you.

Summer is here for sure, leaving us with scorching afternoons and sultry nights and bringing back old March memories. March was the month of school examinations set on the anvil of summer vacation. Anyway, before I know it, I have a son of my own who is ready to make his own memories of the Summer months.

Yesterday, I took it easy on the lunch, eating with the rest of the family, including white rice. After some sports shopping at a store called decathalon, we returned home, and I made myself a protein shake with a banana. I expected to return late after the outing, and had this planned in my mind to avoid a restaurant meal!

Today was different, though. I woke up feeling queasy in the stomach and having gasssy problems. The Scientist made me a sandwich, for breakfast, while I rested. The problem is that my entire abdomen feels painful, as is my lower back. I don't seem to be able to stand up for a few minutes, without feeling like someone is stabbing a knife through my back. Hence I gladly welcomed the offer to have lunch outside. We fed Chittu before we left, so he was peaceful through our meal at the Oberoi's Thai restaurant Rim Naam. I rounded off a light meal with some flavourful dessert, and returned home with a box of pastries given by the considerate staff for Chittu's impeccable behaviour. However the pastries are sitting in the fridge, and I am totally free of desire!

Since Chittu promptly fell asleep as we returned home, we headed back out to watch a tamil romantic flick that was cute and enjoyable! We came back home with a bag of veggies & fruits, my life line for the week. However, my pains are still with me, as I type this out, and I wonder if will hit the gym tomorrow morning though my clothes are laid out!We will see :)

Chittu is still quite perky and is playing peek-a-boo from behind my laptop.  I have begun to have the monday morning blues of late, and wish I can simply sit at home, doing nothing!!! Honestly, I'm not in the best of spirits and the pain is not making me feel good. Let's wait and watch.

And another whirlwind weekend

That's the first weekend of February gone by. I had an awesome weekend with pelnty of family time, healthy eating and much needed rest.

We began Saturday morning after breakfast at home finishing up some much procrastinated paper work relating to the house we just bought. I also dropped by my almamater to find out when I should begin thinking about school admissions for Chittu. Man! we're that far along already? High alert begins in October this year , I learnt, when schools make applications for admissions available. Thoughts about that later!

We returned home in time for lunch, feeding Chittu and getting him to sleep. We then met an old freind of mine from school, and fished compliments about my weight loss so far. I wore jeans after possibly three years (or maybe even more). I tried my old jeans to see if I fit and I did!Yayy! It feels great when good work is rewarded. We came back home for a simple light dinner, and hit the bed. Saturday, the gym was closed for maintenance, so guess who did not exercise :)

Sunday morning, I hit the gym, while the enterprising Scientist finished  veggie shopping for the week. After a good cardio session I returned home stopping enroute for some home-supplies. I chanced upon some star fruit at the store and bought it. I have never eaten the fruit before and googled to find out how to. How much I use google!

After lunch, I curled up beside Chittu and napped an entire two hours! The work-out was a good one. I woke up, tried a bit of the pretty looking star fruit and decided it was good stuff for a mere 30 calories per fruit. We then headed to a Shiva temple where Chittu had fun watching fish and tortoises in the temple pond, enjoyed Pani puri on a road side stall, and once again headed home for dinner.

No outside food this weekend. I am really working hard to get below the 80 mark, can't you tell? How was your weekend?

Eating Out - some thoughts and incidents

Last week, I mentioned we dined out – thrice. The first was at a restaurant serving usual north Indian fare – roti, sabzi, dal etc. When I go to these places, I have developed a way of eating. I first order a soup, nibble on the starter from the husband’s plate, and ask for only the vegetable and dal to be served on my plate. I skip the roti (bread), and if I feel like I want a bite, again I take it from the husband’s plate. Also I take care of feeding Chittu, which is both time consuming and occupying. So it’s not like I have finished fast, while the rest of the people are still eating. I have also learnt to say no to the mocktails/juices, and stick to a salted lime soda, in case I feel like I’m having acidity/heartburn. Also, I try to stay totally away from dessert. This way, even though we are eating out, I don’t end up being so full that I feel sick/icky. I also don’t pile on unnecessary calories from the mocktail/bread basket/ dessert. At the end of the meal, I feel satisfied, and happy.

The next meal was a fancy Chinese restaurant. Only the husband and I went. I had decided, I will eat rice/noodles, because, all of last week I woke up every morning, feeling very tired. I thought I possibly was not giving my body enough nourishment, and have upped the carbs a little. I feel a lot better this week.

Anyway, getting back to our meal at the Chinese restaurant, the Husband and I split soup, ordered a starter and a main-course of rice and some tofu gravy. I just kept eating through the meal, and did not notice, I was beginning to feel full. Really full. By the end of the meal, I felt like I was going to throw up at the table and found it difficult to get up and walk. My stomach felt like a piece of heavy rock was strapped to it. Obviously I had overeaten WAYYYYY too much, and that made me feel uncomfortable for nearly an hour after. I vowed I would never do that to myself again. I can always come back to this restaurant, can’t I? Of course.

The third was Pizza at Papa Johns. Chittu went with us. We order a medium pizza, garlic breadsticks (which are so yum at Papa Johns) and Cheese sticks, along with Pepsi. I had already decided to drink the Pepsi. I ate a little bit of the garlic & cheese sticks. I then had a slice of pizza. Then started on another, and felt like I was beginning to feel full. I promptly handed my nibbled upon slice to the Scientist, and we packed the remaining to go home with us. We ate it for breakfast the next day. I did not feel heavy/tardy after eating out.

These are the points I like to make:

·         Gradually my capacity to eat seems to be decreasing. In the past, I could easily have the Chinese meal plus ice cream and be totally normal.

·         I think about what I am going to eat before hand. I don’t always stuff myself with pizza/pepsi, nowadays. So I decide what it is that I want to eat. That makes me happy at the end of the meal. Not crabby that I went “off plan”

·         I have learnt how to eat at restaurants, without sabotaging my eating style.

·         I have also learnt not to be shy to admit to friends/family that I have begun to eat this way. In fact, I say that it is by doing these little things I have managed to lose close to 20 kilos.

Man, I love food and love eating out. And if I were to make resolutions like I will stop eating out/ I will not eat sugar/insert ridiculous resolution of choice, I will never get around to losing weight or getting healthy. This weight loss journey, is teaching me so many things.

What do you think dear reader? Please leave me your thoughts as a comment.