Wierd Weekend Post

I was feeling low, fat and sick when the weekend began. Nonetheless, I lugged myself for the power yoga class on Friday night. The winter in Bangalore has shown sub 15degree temperatures. And the dark and cold is just not a very cheery combination. While I did lay out running clothes for a Saturday morning run, I woke up after an uneasy night having the todlder waking up far too many times and an unwell Scientist. I was too late for an outdoor run, and so I laced up and made it to the gym instead. I worked on my running speed and attempted a sub 40 minute 5k. I clocked a 5k in 41 minutes on the treadmill, with no elevation. But I shaved nearly 9 minutes off my first ever treadmill 5k earlier this year. And then I did a random hill workout on the recumbent cycle for 20 minutes. Solid 60 minute sweaty cardio.

 

I spent the rest of Saturday flitting between the hall and bedrooms of my home, feeling pointless and directionless. I must have mentioned that to the Scientist atleats one million times, that day - that I feel so lost in my career, in life and weight wise too. I overslept on Saturday afternoon and just went deeper into the awful mood I was in. The many rava laddoos did not help either. 

 

Sunday means dance class day. I have missed class for more than a month now, and am nowhere near motivated  to continue with it. That is really sad after having been super excited about restarting dance. The main reason is that I ended up dancing amidst little kids, who might have been pretty good at dance, but I was just not able to find my connect there. I think that might mean the end of dance for me, for now. What I am expecting is a teacher who will be able to focus just on me for an hour or two every week. I dunno if I'm asking for too much, but dancing amidst kiddos after 12 years of hard core bharatanatyam, just sort of upsets me.

 

So after much thinking the Scientist and I agreed that the class may not be the best for me, right now. I will reassess later, when I can think more clearly. We spent more directionless-pointless time on sunday watching a random tamil movie. By the evening I had about had it, and we decided to go temple visiting. I felt wayyyy better afterwards, and both Chittu and the Scientist slept fitfully. I was up before the alarm went off at 5.30 this morning and headed out into the chilly winter morning for an 8k run at Lalbagh. The run was just what I needed to get me back into the grove and I am so glad that I was able to find my running mojo!

 

My next stop will be the Wipro Chennai Marathon -10k on December 2nd 2012 where I will see if can run in the humid Madras weather. Initially I was thinking that this will prepare me for the Auroville half marathon which is slated for Feb 10th 2013. But now, I'm wondering if I am attempting too much, too soon. Anyway, I am not sure sure of the Chennai 10k route, but am hoping I will get to run along the beach to make a dream come true :)

 

Whirlwind weekends are back?

When I said I was going to take the power yoga in my last post on friday, I was really hoping I'd not find an excuse to skip it. So even though the Scientist was home early, I decided to suck it up and just go for the class anyway. I was sweating by just doing breathing exercises. Power Yoga. More power to it. That reaffirms my belief that:

1. the hardest thing about working out is getting your butt out of the door

2. you NEVER regret a workout - EVER

 

So, upon return I was a happy hen and settled for dinner with someleft over carrot soup and dosas. The baby slept early, and even though going for a movie was an enticing prospect, we had to skip it , for the Bangalore Bundh was underway, already!

 

Saturday was the official Bandh and the city wore a deserted, almost eerie look with no buses, most shops shut down and gloomy weather. The Scientist was not sure that I would be safe running outdoors and advised that I stay in bed and under the sheets. Wow. Glorious!

 

And so Saturday was spent mostly at home. We ventured out bravely in the evening to  Lalbagh which is really close to us. But the rain gods promptly sent us back home. It was raining. I was fighting pakoda cravings and wondering what to do with the available time. My blogger, facebook and gmail pages were refreshed atleast 1 million times in about half an hour and I was beginning to crib about being bored, when I remembered that old me who was obsessed with books and reading. With the toddler, sometimes I don't really get my reading in. And I found the habit wearing away, and the pile of unread books just growing. I resolved that this year I would reignite my reading habit and have read a couple of books. I had started on the Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh. But that was a couple of months ago. So I fished out the book and got reading whilst it was raining outside. Romantic, no?

 

Sunday morning I woke up battling with guilt for not doing the long run I had lovingly planned. I had dance class at 9 and had just about an hour. So I laced up and went off to my running venue. I got 6 kms in and plenty of pretty sights too! Not to mention the cool weather even around 7.30 a.m. I really love Bangalore for that one reason. I got back home, showered, quickly refueled on a sandwich and scooted off to dance class. Go me!!! After being in there for 15minutes, I rediscovered my love for it. I feel grateful to have a guru and being able to dance with no objections from people or my body :-)

 

I got back, made a quick lunch and napped with the toddler, promising him an evening outing, if he woke up early. He did and were off to Ramakrishna Mutt, for our dose of spirituality and got some books for the toddler. I read the exact same book in my childhood and loved, loved it. I can't believe life has come a full circle.

 

As a reward for being a good girl, we finished up an early dinner, outside. I really love to eat out. Once we got home, the Scientist remembered that he had to collect his glasses from the specs makers. I suggested we walk and we did! Guess, what? I finished the week making up my total weekly mileage of 21 kms (18 run and 3 walked). I feel accomplished and totally ready for this week!

 

How was yours?

 

 

Just a very Chatty Post

Man there are a lot of weight loss bloggers from India now. When I began to blog about my weight loss journey, most of the blogs I came across were by Americans. See, my list ofInspiring weight loss bloggers just got longer!

In other news, I have been put on a month long medication to soothe my stomach ulcers and the related gastritis :) Hurrah for me. Hopefully that should resolve the issue. When I was explaining my weight loss journey to the doc yesterday, he sounded so impressed. It felt good.

Yes it feels awesome to know and announce to the world that I have lost 23 kilos. But the fact that I need to lose a whole lot more to get to an acceptable weight cannot be denied. Right now, I want to get rid of 10 kilos to reach the magical 67kg. After this much loss, its mighty hard. The fat deposits refuse to be evicted from what they consider their lawful home.

As you might see from my ambitious exercise plan, I am trying to fit in two exercise sessions a day to push weight loss a bit and rev up my metabolism. I have begun to run too. Yayy! I can cruise through a 4k and that feels fabulous after the dual fracture. I have also begun to attend bharatanatyam classes. Bharatanatyam is my passion, and I am glad that I have resumed classes. I have a life goal relating to bharatanatyam, which will hopefully frutify so that I can blog about it.

Other than the acidity and gastritis, I feel good, light, active and strong. Also since I have upped caloric intake, my energy levels are good. There used to be a time I'd be falling asleep at my desk at work, becasue I was not eating properly. Rice has appeared on my plate again and while I'm loving it, I must take extra care not to take an extra serving!

While all things seem to be going good, I wish the weight will go like that too. I remember staying stuck at 82.7 for a very long time and now its 77.5. I wish I can get to the below 75 mark by the end of this month. I have some interesting plans up my sleeve.

Sorry, the title warned you that this is a chatty post. I just felt like it today.Hope you did not mind.

And oh, Happy Friday everybody!

Home Alone- Day One , the Holiday Update & Salangai Oli

My 4 days of sanctioned “alone time” has begun. I flew back into Bangalore this morning to a temperature of 11 degrees. First thing I did was to weigh myself. Scale read 81.8 kgs. I wandered about barefooted, freely  in the house with icy tiles, leaving the coffee mug on the table, without worrying that the toddler will reach for it/ topple/break it. I had tea and khari, made a simple lunch of roasted cauli, beans, green peas and carrots, carried an apple and some walnuts to work and eased into the weeks routine.

I have watched my food over the “holiday”, except for a family dinner last evening, during which I had a cheesy pasta bake and white chocolate cold-shake. But otherwise I dealt with plentiful availability of baked goodies with laudable control and sensibility. I might not make it to my New Year’s Goal of reaching below the 80 mark. But hey! I’m close, and working at it ALL the time.

So, the music season in Chennai is in full bloom. All the sabhas and cultural associations are showcasing the best of music, dance and drama. There’s good food too, for, what is enjoyment without culinary satiety?

Here is what the Scientist and I did:

• Watched a Bharatanatyam recital of Shobana at the Narada Gana Sabha
• Listened to mellifluous Nithyashree  
• Ate yummy food at Gnanambika’s counter in the rear space of Narada Gana Sabha
• And had a good time bonding with family

It’s a microscopic bit of all that is going on in the city. But that’s what we could fit in, without feeling too guilty of abandoning little Chittu with his grandmother.

As I sat in the amphitheatre waiting for the curtains to lift to Shobana’s recital, I caught glimpses of the danseuse’s pink “alta” stained feet – clad with the “Salangai” (Ghungru) promenade the stage, spanning it to get the feel of the size. The “Salangai oli” or the “sound of the anklets” is one I hold close to my heart. It is in that Salangai oli I find true happiness. Its sweet divinity brings me great joy. And hearing its jingle on that day after many days brought back to me a yearning – that I want my feet clad in it again. I might not be a good dancer. But it is the language of dance, which brings me closest to God. And while on the threshold of the new year, it is my wish and desire that I would be able to dance again.

List 1 - My Support System

It’s less than ten days to the new year. New Year. While I have never written down resolutions before, or atleast as far as my memory goes, I shall do it this time. But that’s another post.

I am more than 15 kgs lighter today, than what I started off the year with. I have lost a total of 18.7 kgs from my highest weight in 2010. And I have reached here by adopting a healthy lifestyle. Yes, I ate many ice creams this year, and stuffed myself with Diwali sweets. But I have also understood how my body functions and how good it feels when I put the muscles to use.

So here is a list of the things that helped me so far on my weight loss journey:

1.    The fact that being obese crippled me. Literally. I just had to get this weight off.

2.    The South Beach Diet way of eating. It teaches me to balance out my meals. 

3.    Weighing in almost every day. I now know that if I drink I diet Soda during a movie tonight, I will bloat tomorrow, and the weight will increase. Although, technically what I had was calorie free.

4.    A supportive husband. Things he does – encouraging always, guiding me with the importance of stretches at the end of an intense cardio session, allowing me my “exercise time”, never being embarrassed to take me for a run, never said that I looked ugly when I was fat. He is the singular person, I owe my bit of success to.

5.    Having a home-help to take care of the toddler, and doing sundry home-chores to keep our home neat and tidy. Again this gave me time to exercise, without being worried that the house was in a mess.

6.    Stores like Namdharis, Nilgiris and Jaivik Organic Mall, where I get whole foods, a variety of healthy snacks and get introduced to new veggies and fruits. Seriously, I never thought that I will eat Brussels Sprouts.Ever.

7.    My elliptical machine, which has been the one, singular source of exercise.

8.    Web sites such as Kalyn’s Kitchen which has opened up a world of cooking ideas. I have come to learn that the simple act of roasting vegetables, makes them incredibly tasty.

9.    My South Beach Diet Yahoo group has taught me to be patient during a weight-plateau. I have understood that if I wait and keep at my healthy ways, the weight should go.

10. My wish to get back to Bharatanatyam, my true love.

The list can go on. But these are the defining elements supporting my weight loss journey so far.

Watch out this space for more such “listy” posts.