A half marathon soon, March Goals & April Plans

Do you guys remember this post - where I declared that I had whimsically signed up for a half marathon? Yikes!!! A half marathon! What in the world was I thinking? With my weight, running a 10k is a bad enough challenge. A half marathon? Like 21.1kms, dear reader, I must have momentarily been out of my mind!

 

I've got just about 3 months. And then there is this event in mid May. But I shall atempt the half. And please note that my voice is feeble. I have absolutely no confidence, I fear I will screw up my knees  and I am simply going to train on my own. Because I want to try. And I know that running that much is going to take a lot from me. Hello, early morning runs.

 

I am also  trying to focus on spending enough time with Chittu for I fear he is getting way too attached to Maami. I have moments of maternal instinct where I want to quit the job and stay home with my son, but I know such hasty decisions are never a good thing! But yes, I want to ensure that  when my son wakes up in the morning either the Scientist or I are at home. So I have modified my work out schedule for the month of April. I will instead take advantage of my new found exercise at home joy and mix and match with other workouts that will give me a good combination of cardio, strength, core and stretching!

 

My aim for this month will be to seriously up the running mileage and down the weight. I am trying.  I am also making small changes to my eating style. If I make any headway with weight loss, you know I will be sure to share.

Goals for April:

• Be able run 8k comfortably
• Hope to see 75 or lower on the scale
• Spend time with Chittu
• Continue to exercise in the evenings!
• I am expecting some serious stress at work and home this month - hope I will tide over without resorting to food!

For March, I got in a total of 26 work out days!!! Thats like my highest ever I guess, and mostly because I began to exercise at home! Weight wise I am almost exactly the same as I was the start of March or should I say I have weighed around the same for a long while now - atleast 3-4 months.

so, whats the plan?

Just in case, you guys got thinking that I was trying to be all cool, and have no goals for 2013, might I correct you,please?

The obvious:

1. Lose weight!

This has run like an infinite loop so far. But yes I know that it been that 2 years in a row, I have weighed less than what I started out with,so I might be making some progress there. But on a side note to the last 10 kgs clinging on to my body - Please move the hell out of me. So hopefully I will weigh 67 or less on 31.12.2013.

And to the not so obvious:

Running:
1. Run a couple of half marathons this year
2. Join a running event outside Bangalore
3. Run 1000 kms in 2013 ( I know that looks like a big number, but take a weekly break up and really, it is not much)

Eating:  I know I am improving. I no longer order dessert at restaurants. But yes the more I restrict sugar, the faster will be my weight loss results.

Reading: 12 books this year (at the rate of one a month)

Temper control

Other things I want to do are:
1. exercise/ run on vacation ( and preferably along the beach. Doesn't that sound so cool?)
2. learn to drive. Like properly.
3. swim. gulp. swim.
4. Not be late to office. EVER.

So thats it. Not resolutions, but certainly goals. And that makes me feel so much more purposeful!

 

November wrap up and december goals

November wrap up time:

 

1. Exercise 6 days a week!

 

Big fail there! November was the month I felt tired, sleep deprived and exhausted. I don't know why. And now I'm officially sick!

2. Run the 12.5k on 11th November 2012. 

 

Did it!

 

3. Do 80 kms this month. (mostly running! thats about 20 kms per week.Doable, I think) 

 

Fail! 30 kms and its ages since I had an outdoor run!

 

3. Diwali month, baby!!! And I want to lose weight. Let's see. I am sick of vascillating between 78 and 80. Time to do some serious work.
 

Yes I did see a low of 77.2 this month! I'll take it for victory!

4. Continue to log in food at Sparkpeople, weight & workouts here on my blog. It sure gives me an idea of what is going on. 

 

Yes I was good and even logged in mysore pak, laddoos and pedas most days this month!

5. Keep my calorie intake at about 1500 cals per day!

 

Well I did have some days where I went overboard like nobody's business. But I am striving to meet the goal!

 

So eating wise this month has been ok. Exercise wise,  not so good. Weight loss wise, I might have finally broken out of the 78-80 vascillation.

December goals:

1. Since I missed the Chennai run, I might compensate by doing the Midnight marathon in Bangalore.

2. Run 80kms

3. Continue with my challenge. Lets see how low I can get my weight to be.

4. Log food, weight and exercise

5. Read a couple of books.

We might me going to Chennai later this month for the music season. I'd like  a run along the beach. Lets see!

 

 

October round up and November Goals

Happy to be home on a cold rainy winter day! The gym was closed for being a state holiday and it was raining pretty hard in the morning that I had to call off my run! So I just curled up and went right back to bed. So recharged, I tell you!

Anyway, October goals were:

1. exercise 6 days a week:

Made a total of 20 days of exercise even after being out of town for about 7 days. So counting the remaining 24 days, 20 workouts days, is not bad. But still, scope for improvement exists. 

2. lose weight ( 1 kg a week) although I never EVER make it to this goal 

Haha :) I think I did make some progress, until I got back home armed with mysore pak :)Back at starting point, though!!!

3. keep up the running practise for the 12.5 k race day 

Yes done well there. I have been running regularly, but am super nervous about the race day :)

4. continue to log in food, exercise and weight

Yes good there too :) I even tracked the mysore pak and laddoos!

5. last, but not the least : not gain weight during the wedding 

Pass, on this one too. Although, I guess I gained a bit thereafter!!!

Now for the November Goals:

1. Exercise 6 days a week!

2. Run the 12.5k on 11th November 2012. Can you hear my heart beat? After the mess up at the Kaveri Trail Marathon last time, I sure am crazy nervous!!!

3. Do 80 kms this month. (mostly running! thats about 20 kms per week.Doable, I think)

3. Diwali month, baby!!! And I want to lose weight. Let's see. I am sick of vascillating between 78 and 80. Time to do some serious work.Remember last year's Diwali debacle? 

4. Continue to log in food at Sparkpeople, weight & workouts here on my blog. It sure gives me an idea of what is going on. 

5. Keep my calorie intake at about 1500 cals per day!

And have I told you? I have planned for two more running events in December! But one step at a time, and I focus only on the Bangalore Ultra for now. Less than 10 days. the countdown has begun!!

Terrible , Terrible June.

I mustered the guts to come back here again. Sorry for the absence and unkept promises. Sorry to myself, for my utter disregard to the goals I set so willingly. For how badly I let myself down each time.

I was on track with food and exercise for most of the time, until Wednesday morning. My new weighing scale arrived on Tuesay night, and I was mighty excited to get on it and find out if i had lost. I was feeling stick thin ( though far from true) and thought I must have atleast lost a couple of kilos. But what did I see? I saw 78! Honestly, my eyes welled up with tears!

I threw my hands up in the air, went for a morning run and have been eating irresponsibly since then! Of course even before that my food diary was not updated, which might be the most  probable reason I was under the terrible impression that I was eating right, but was actually not. Sigh!

Right now, I cannot figure out why I mess up? Why do I love food so much? So much that even though I wake up every single morning and aim to lose weight, I still eat kebabs and ice cream at the end of day? I feel terrible. 

June goals have been trashed! Total failure. I will post a weigh in tomorrow morning and I hope I will not touch the 80 once again! Recommtting for July, though:

1. Continue my running groove. Meversusfat, do you hear my shout? I am thinking of the the 10k of the Kaveri Trail Marathon. What say? Running does not hurt my knees any more. So goody!

2. Yes weight loss. Once again. Shall we aim for the 74 mark? I say yes.

3. Food. Food. Food. I shall adopt draconian plans. And not eat anything except carrots and cucumbers all of July. Most surely, I am kidding!

I also have some exciting plans up my sleeve and hoped I will be in hourglass shape by then! But well, guess I got the timing a wee bit wrong. Never mind. The plans are still exciting.

I am back home, so I shall get my butt moving, baby!

Burst of the bubble!

Sometimes what happens is quite annoying. I woke up this morning to weigh myself and found that my weighing scale has conked off. A small piece of metal fell off from the place where I insert the batteries. Sob! I do not have a spare weighing scale just in case some of you wonder.

So first wednesday weigh in post is a total fail!

In other news, I'm back to feeling like a bloated hot air baloon. So now its pretty clear that my digestive system is totally messed up. I'm taking the same prescription meds the doc gave me last time, plus my own home remedies. I'm feeling a bit better now after feeling totally lousy all morning. I could not even go the gym so that I could weigh myself at the scale there. Oops!

 I am eating my favourite buttermilk rice, which I believe is asnwer to all my problems. But we all know how much rice messes up my weight loss. Once again, just when I really wanted to conquer the fat, I am down with health issues.

I have ordered a weighing scale through e-bay. Lets see how fast that come. Yesterday's weigh in showed 77.9 kg. with plenty of bloat and gas. Lets see if I can weigh in next wednesday!

And oh I almost forgot- I did my first June run yesterday morning. I slow jogged my way through some mainroads of Bangalore city early in the morning. I felt totally invogorated and confident, despite being the (ugly?)  over weight runner on the road! My estimate of yesterday's run is about 5-k. I hope I will increase the number of runs and work on pace and distance too. Lets see.

Plans for June!

In the month of June, I shall be away from home for three weeks. I will be in Chennai first to attend an engagement and later shall be working on a professional goal. While I will be staying at a relatives home, I am faced with the challenge of :

1. not having access to my kitchen

2. not having access to my gym

3. not having a mode of commute

However, I am atleast 10 kilos from my goal weight, and therefore am planning the little details of how I will continue to lose weight during the three weeks that I am going to be in Chennai. I say I will, because I am still aiming to hit goal weight in August this year.

For exercise:

1. I shall run at the park which is atleast 5 km away from my home (i have not micro planned how I will achieve that though!)

2. Alternately I shall take brisk walks morning and evenings.

3. I shall also try to do some mat exercises to maintain the muscle strength I have built so far.I shall carry my purple yoga mat!

For weight:

1. I shall carry my weighing machine so that I can weigh in often.

2. I shall also be careful to carry well fitted clothes so that I can be in control of what I eat.

3. I will do a weigh in post for four wednesdays beginning on the first wednesday of June i.e.. tomorrow.

4. I shall aim to lose 4 kgs in June, because I have to.

For food:

This is the biggest challenge for me. I have to work on the food part to ensure that I continue to lose weight.

1. I shall carry my food journal with me and continue to record food intake.

2. I shall try to stay clear from white rice completely.

3. I shall pack everyday a lunch of a fruit, protein, vegetables, dairy and plenty of water so that I do not get overly hungry.

4. I shall also carry an extra fruit , nuts and some cucumber just to stay prepared for hunger pangs.

5. I shall carry from Bangalore sufficient snack supplies so that I am not allowed the lame excuse of not being able to access the supermarket for things I need.

My main concern is the workouts. I know I stay on track with food when I am exercising. Although I have plannedto walk/run as often as possible, I am still a bit worried. I just dont want to mess up now.

How May I have fared?

I would have loved to see the 76s this month. Oh well! I did see a 77.2 one day and a 77.8 today (with swollen ankles!), but now I’m wondering if that was just dehydration? I have been fairly good with my goals:

1.Banish the night time snacking habit

Complete victory on this one. Banished.Completely. Well almost!

2. Get my weight moving downwards.

Not massively. But I did. 1.5 kg weight loss. I aimed for 3 though. How else will I weigh 67 on 21^st August 2012?

3. Get back to journalling

Yessir!Got entries for most days. As per my estimate I consumed about 1500 calories on average per day. Almost no binges except for a single slice of pizza!!

4. Continue to exercise regularly

Aha! Affirmative. I worked out 5 days a week with 2/3 days of strength training and 2/3 days at the cardio section. I also got 2 aerobic dance classes on tap. Go me!

So, although I’ve been doing pretty well, I want results a bit faster. Or let's say,  I am going to aim for it and make small changes.

Here they are:

1. I am going to run. I might cycle the mileage a bit depending on time available, but I shall run!

2. I am going to keep wheat/brown rice/insert complex carbohydrate in the form of grain to one serving at breakfast or lunch and one snack about 100 calories.

3. Am going to make my meals smaller, but more frequent.

I am not going to be in Bangalore from early June until the end. So losing in June, is a complete challenge. But I have to.  The details of June planning shall follow soon!

But June goals are:

1. Lose 4 kgs to reach a weight of 73

2. Continue to food journal

3. Exercise regularly

4.Cut out/ reduce added sugar

5.Banish the snacking habit.

I want to speed up weight loss a bit. Any other suggestions?

Delayed Whirwind weekend and Other updates

Sorry guys! I know its too late, but better late than never, right?

The last weekend, was a complete whirlwind. We made a dashing visit to Chennai and back. It's ringing weding bells in our family, and I'm so excited. 

Therefore there is so much motivation for me to shed some more weight. I have been maintaining for a while now, and it's mostly because of my eating ways. I must bite the bullet soon! Sometimes it stresses me out to think that I have 12 kgs to go to reach goal weight. I was supposed to achieve that by August this year. 12 kgs in four months does not sound difficult, but given the plateau I have been maintaining, I wonder how much more time this is going to take me. Sigh!

Back to happy stuff, this weekend, also saw me on the road to recovery and my stomach and back have return to their usual forgiving selves :)

Although there was no workout during the weekend, I was glad that I was feeling better. Energy levels have returned, and I should be getting back to my exercise regimen soon! Food front, I was kind to my stomach after the tumult it was going through and fed it very often to ensure acidity was at bay. 

Healthy eating has resumed, and I am enforcing portion control. I do eat rice/ wheat/ brown bread in small quantities, and honestly, I wonder if this will slow down weight loss for me. Initially, when I started losing weight, I tried to follow the South Beach Diet, and lost a good lot of weight on phase 1. I have lately not been able to follow the stringent phase 1, though I know it works marvels on my body! Reading stuff on the internet also makes me wonder whether I am insulin resistent, as I seem to have all the indications of that. However, I shall resort to it, if I don't see results even after curbing my unhealthy snacking habits. Snacking has been fairly under control, and that is mainly because my pantry has almost nothing I am tempted to snack on!

Anyhow, I don't want to turn this into a disjoint rambling post, and will culminate by saying that week 1 has been good so far as May's goals. 

How is your May coming along? Do leave me a line?

April Goal & 90/10 eating plan

3 months gone by and I have 13 kgs to hit goal weight. I really need to heat things up a bit and tighten loose corners if I want my stubborn old friend - Mr Adipose tissue that became my tenant to be forcibly evicted from his home i.e my body. Looking back I may say that these 20 kilos have been relatively easy to lose. Pregnancy and dual fracture weight have come off within 1.5 years.Wow!! did I just say easy? I must reconsider!

As many wise weight loss bloggers such as Vicky time and again reinforce, it is supremely important to address the food component of weight loss. They repeatedly stress that no amount of exercise may be enough to burn what you eat, and mindful eating is therefore very very important.

At this point in my weight loss journey I find exceptional wisdom in these words, and must therefore really tighten my eating rules to reach goal. Here are my eating rules for April:

1. Limit refined carbohydrate to once a week.(No to the rice which is regularly creeping into my lunch plate)

2. Stop snacking specially when not hungry.(No to the biscuits and chips I have taken to lately!)

3. Try the 90/10 rule that Lori has done ( stay on plan 90% of the time). Assuming I have six meals a day (one prework out, breakfast, lunch, dinner and two snacks) means I have a total of 42 meals a week. 10 % means 4 meals. That should give me some leg room for indulgence!

4.Summer is hot this time, and fluids must be monitored. So that is in the goal list too :)

Since workout wise, I'm doing the best I can, I plan to stay on track. Same goes with food, weight and exercise journal.I really have high hopes for April!

Workout update and March goals revisited

My work out this week looked like this:

Monday: 30 mins on treadmill and 30 mins on arc trainer

Tuesday : 30 mins on elliptical and 20 mins on stationary bike

Wednesday : Personal Strangth Training trial session (was nice and tough)

Thurday: Day off

Friday: Personal Strength Training session 1 ( I loved it)

Saturday: Dance Aerobics Class

So workout wise, I had a good week. Foodwise. I am improving. staying off the chips that travelling with us from Kerela is proving hard. Si I let myself a small portion and cur out the starch from dinner. Todays dinner for example was a half papaya that I shared with Chittu, a subzi I made out of tinda, ivygourd and paneer and glass of cold milk as I type this out. Chittu loved the papaya :)

Weightwise, I barely made it to the seventies again. With 79.8 this morning. I'm expecting the personal strength training to rev up my weight loss and help drop a few quick kilos. Also, the exhorbitant amount I am paying for it, should help me stay with controlled eating.

March goals revisited:

1. Structured workouts:

Yes. I did it. I was regular with strength training before the vacation break. Now even more so with the services of a personal trainer.

2.Improved fluid intake:

Errrm. Doing ok with this one. But some days, in the midst of work, I forget my water.

3. No vacation weight gain.

Total bummer! I messed up!

4. Food weight diary

Yep it has become part of my routine now. It also helps me keep track of my work outs.

Seriously now thinking of it, I totally went out out of control during the vacation. I wonder how long it will take me to get out of the seventies! The eighties costed me seven months, for the record :) Sometimes I panic how long this will take. I really want to make it, and feel time is running out. I hyperventilate. I freak out. I think of doing drastic things. But well, I now know what works! And that certainly is not yo-yo dieting!

Ok baby steps. One day at a time. I should get there :)

March Musings - Goals and two links

This morning was a typical Friday. Thanks to a wailing toddler last night, for seemingly no reason at all, we could not go to bed till 11 p.m. My alarm when off at 5.10 in the morning. I set it that way because it does not feel like I wake up at 5 a.m, which I think is too early. Anyway so I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep. I woke up half hour later, worried that I had over slept. Even though my gym clothes were laid out, I momentarily wondered if I should just skip the gym. However, I hauled myself out of bed, and fought that trace of laziness. By 6.15 I was on the elliptical. Today was cardio day. Also, there was a board outside the gym that said that gym would be closed tomorrow. Thank goodness I made it today. But guess who is sad about missing dance aerobics group class tomorrow?

As is routine I weighed myself to see 79.8. My weight loss has really slowed down after joining the gym in January. Over the last few days I have been feeling overly exhausted. On the food front, I think I have been having enough protein and carbohydrates. But why the exhaustion?

I give to you two links highlighting the importance of water and sleep in weight loss.

This

& This

While I do drink about 2 litres of water in a day, it is possible that it is not sufficient for my body, given that I do pretty intense work outs, and also that summer seems to have arrived on full volume in Bangalore. Also while I could be a complete sleepy joe, I have been cutting back sleep to about 6 -6 1/2 hours every day. That’s the only way I manage to fit in baby time, cooking time, family time, gym time & blogging time. I should possibly cut myself a little slack, and organize time a little better perhaps?

So, here are my March goals:

1.    Increase water/fluid intake ; include buttermilk, tender coconut water and plenty of plain simple H2O.

2.    Structured work outs restricted to 5 days a week – include yoga and/ or pilates in addition to dance aerobics & continue strength training so that I will enough sleep on days I don't work out.

3.    Maintain food, weight, water & exercise journal. I have begun to enjoy this actually.

4.    Not gain weight during the family vacation planned during the third week of March. Yes we are going on vacation. Remember I had made it a 2012 goal?

So that’s it. Lets get to work!!!!

February Round up

The last three days went by so fast. I typed a half hearted post with half closed eyes last night. But my laptop ran out of charge before I could tag it and hit the publish button. So I shoved the laptop underneath the bed and curled up next to the Scientist, and woke up in time for gym this morning.

So yes. Thanks for all the warm messages of congratulation really kind people left me in the last post. I have begun this month under the 80 mark. Phew!!! Finally.

Quick round up for February:

My goals were:

1.    To do phase 1 SBD for 2 weeks with a maximum of two servings of fruit.

I did well there, with minor slip ups.

2.    To reach 78 kilos and closer to my goal weight which I’m supposed to reach by my birthday in August.

Umm. What do we say? I did my best. But the scale did not co-operate?

3.    Structured work outs.

Yes. Good there too. I have added strength training twice/ thrice a week. Heavy duty cardio work outs stopped working for me.

4.    Recipe with picture every week.

Uhh! I got one. So I am trying!!!

5.    Continue food & weight journal.

             Yep pass on that. Have done it except during our whirl wind weekend at Wayanad!

When I started blogging about my weight loss, my intention was to create accountability for myself and hopefully inspire the random wanderer on the internet looking for company in the weight loss journey. There are some awesome people (see my side bar) who through their blogs have opened my eyes to the kind of problems especially related to self image people who are/ have been overweight face. Reading those blogs gives my daily dose of inspiration, to get to the gym, watch my food, say no to the sweets at the buffet, telling the Scientist to not bring home sugary/fried food and so many other things that are a part of the change that I have become.

So, when I see this post it really makes me happy that someone else is also finding inspiration from the time I spend noisily typing disjoint stories in my weight loss journey. I hope I stay strong and focused and make it to my goal weight. I also hope that I continue to be able to do update the blog regularly and continue even through maintenance.

What inspires you dear reader, to do the seemingly difficult? I’d love to know.

February Goals & Hopes

One thing that all those who have lost a considerable amount of weight say is to keep going irrespective of the number on the scale. From my own experience, losing close to 20 kilos, I have learnt that it is very very difficult to do that. Day after day of sensible eating and exercising, I hope that the weighing scale reads a few hundred grams lesser every morning. Sadly that is not how things work and I must admit that my journey so far has been slow and painstaking.

I have been for a month now, trying to reach below the 80 mark. Last few days have been holding up at 81.1. However I have been working out at the gym almost all of January, and I think I can say I have better tone.

Also throughout January, although I was well within calorie range (1300-1500), I know from my food journal that I did eat grains in the form of Rice/Chappatis/Oats/Broken Wheat more than once a day. I also ate fruit (including bananas) in addition to grains. That simply does not work for me. I will do a post on bananas and how they affect me soon.

My goals this month are these:

·         To do phase 1 SBD for two weeks (today is day 3), but with a maximum of two servings fruits in a day (no bananas for me though!)

·         To reach 78 kilos by the end of this month. (I have a birthday, goal, remember?) (when I made the goal I estimated to lose atleast 2 kilos every month)

·         To get in a bit of structure to my workouts. The scientist pointed out this morning that I have not yet planned my gym work outs.

·         Last month’s unaccomplished goal of posting a recipe and a picture every week spills into this month as well!

·         Continue to do the food & weight journal

So on a positive note, here’s to February’s hopes & goals!

Cheers!

January Round Up

I had three goals for January:

One was to not over sleep on weekends and finish my workout before the rest of the family woke up.

Stellar performance on that one.

Week 1 – I took a run at the neighborhood park, both Saturday & Sunday

Week 2 – I did the dance aerobics group class at the gym on Saturday. Sunday was my day off.

Week 3 – Saturday – group dance aerobics

    Sunday – cardio

Week 4 – went on a holiday ; no exercise formally, but plenty of walking

Two, was to post a recipe with a picture. Zero points on that.

Three, was to get to 78 kgs. Haha! The 80s refuse to let go of me.

I feel much leaner today than I did at the beginning of the month. I think my gym workouts are giving me good muscle mass. Therefore, there has been progress off the weighing scale. 

My goals for February will follow in the  next post.

As an after-thought, I thought I must say why working out on weekends is important, instead of thinking that its the weekend and that I will take the two days off:

1. When I work out in the morning, it sets the tone for the rest of day - food wise. Usually  my thinking is that I should not sabotage a good workout, by eating something on a frill.

2.Waking up late on weekend mornings, greatly constricts the length of the day. I wake up early, because I like to go to the gym early. Then I return home home and shower early, have breakfast early. You get the drift. I can accommodate so many more things this way!

3. Working out on weekends is easier on my mind than weekdays, when I have to rush home, cook, pack the Scientist's lunch and get to work. I can enjoy my workout, stretch all my muscles and return, without feeling the tick-tock in my ear.

4. Finally it also gives me the option of taking my "off" day during the week, when something unexpected crops up!

  

January Goals And Other Updates

One of those perfect mornings again, except, I think the weighing scale caught up with all the sugar I inputted in my system. The scale is back up to 82.7 kgs from my pre-new year low of 81.5. Honestly, I am not sure if I ate all that much really. It could be a host of reasons, including those amazing things that happen with a woman’s body. But whatever. No sweat. Yes, I am a little upset about going further away from my new year goal. But I know I can put things back in the right direction with a little bit of effort. Yes? Yes.

On the bright side, I have the following to my credit:

1.    A kurta I bought during Diwali, now hangs listlessly on my frame. I have lost plenty of inches since October 2011. I am packing this kurta, into my now growing collection of clothes that are fairly new, but still too large for me.

2.    Food Journalling has been going well the last few days.

3.    So has exercise. My elliptical is back in use, and my joints feel well oiled again. I don’t know if it’s the cold in Bangalore, or the fact that my body now “demands” to be exercised -but after a couple of days without exercise, my joints get stiff, and my muscles get fizzy. Back to exercise mode, and I feel just fine.

4.    I am feeling better and the wheezing seems to have gone, thanks to the mercury being slightly up around here.

Oops! I forgot my monthly goals for January

1.    Is to not oversleep on weekend mornings, finish the workout before the family wakes up and use the extra time with the toddler.

2.    Is to put up one of my healthy recipes with a picture, every week.

Ideally, I should reach 78 kgs by Feb1. But that seems faaaaaaaaar away! 

December Wrap Up & Things to do list for 2012

So how did I do in December 2011?

1.    Weightwise, I was aiming for the below 80 mark. But I weighed in at 81.5kg this morning. Not so bad? Eh?

2.    Exercise wise, I wanted to fit in a session of evening exercise at least twice a week. That went pretty smooth.

3.    Food journal. In one word –nope. But on a longer note, the reason I wanted to do this was because I seemed to have hit a plateau, and my weight was NOT budging. So I did journal for two weeks I think, and then the scale began to move down again, so I stopped. Frankly, no regret.

Moving on to the 2012 to do list:

1.    Hit target weight by August. (you can see my start weight, current weight and target weight in the sidebar)

2.    Begin to drive

3.    Resume dance - Bharatanatyam

4.    Plan and execute two vacations

5.    Professional goal A – complete something I started (LONG ago)

6.    Work on the blog

7.    Start a recipe blog for my healthy/SBD friendly recipes

8.    Manage sleep time

9.    Resume Improve reading habits

10. Plan our finances

Honestly I can convert this list into a never-ending one. But the above images my primary goals. These are things I need to desperately get done.

So I am going to busy myself already. Wish me luck!

A Run and a Revelation

Yesterday, something new happened.

The toddler went to bed half an hour earlier than usual.

As the Scientist was putting him into the crib, I asked, if we could go out for a walk. (To keep up with my monthly goal) The scientist said yes. I got into my tracks, t-shirt, socks and reebok shoes. I threw a sweat shirt over. It was chilly outside, and I don’t want to get sick by being stupid and running in the wintry (read : also smoggy) Bangalore night.

The Scientist came in shorts, tee and berks. I find that my left foot still hurts (after the fracture before baby’s birth) when I wear shoes. Slip on foot wear is ok. But when I wear shoes, I can still feel the pain. But we went on.

I had to run to keep up with the Scientist’s fast paced walking. I was comfortable, running in relatively darker, lesser populated parts of the road. We passed a night club. A couple got out of a taxi with their may be 4 year old son, and entered the pub. The Scientist and I stared at each other in disbelief, and then walked on.

I walked a lot, and ran a little. I feel happy to be able to run. I remember how pathetic I felt about myself when I had fractured both feet one and a half years ago. Running feels particularly empowering in that context. And I felt grateful as well.

We returned home in about 40 minutes. I took the four floors up by the stairs. The Scientist took the lift. He reached first. I remembered the time, when we as children used to race the lift. Have you ever done that?

I asked the Scientist to take pictures of me, “for the record”, so as to be able to compare a month later, when I should have lost some more weight. I looked at the picture of myself. I did not feel shy, like I have been before. I have come a long way, I can tell. The picture shows progress- weigh wise, I mean. I have always shied away from photographs, with family, friends, weddings, celebrations, picnics and even with my baby. I have always hoped that I will magically become invisible. But yesterday was different. I was looking at myself objectively. I could handle what I saw. I did not want to be invisible.

Yesterday, I was probably the same weight I was at before I got pregnant with Chittu. I probably even looked younger then. But I have taught myself to change the way I think. Being fat may be ugly. But it does not make me an outcast. Or a criminal. Or a bad creation of God. The realization falls on me easily. But the journey was a hard one.  

Addressing my rants.

Remember my rants all of last week? Well, it appears that my body was doing some adjustments. Noteworthy things that happened this week:

·         The scale has begun to show lower numbers. So much for my fight!

·         I had ONLY ONE mint Oreo (the real one, not the bad stuff Britannia sells in India) from an entire packet that the husband bought and devoured by himself.

·         I took only one sip from the large coke that the husband got free for buying movie tickets using Citibank card. I trashed the rest, and the popcorn. It makes me bloated. I’m proud of myself.

·         I also had only half a californian cookie, out of the three varieties that the husband bought at cookie man. (do you see a trend? The husband is beginning to grow the devil’s horns? And I have displayed great strength at resisting food)

·         I have, this first week of November December, kept at adhering to my monthly goals. So, food & exercise journal is going good, as is added evening exercise twice a week.

·         The inches are going on my lower body, which allays my fear that I was losing weight only on the top.  

Moral of the story: I’m too good.

Nah. But seriously, all that it takes to say NO to a large coke calling out my name that pre-planned decision to say NO. Believe me, it was not this easy the last time. But I have been persistent.

November wrap up, December plans and a Recipe.

Alright. Posting from work again:

Since December is here, with utmost disregard to my unpreparedness, let’s do a monthly assessment.

Exercise wise, I stayed committed all month. Food is my huge problem. Sugar specially. I cheated on the food diary. Nope not even one day. So, yesterday, I jotted it down on some scrap paper I found. Today, until now is recorded as well. I just have to keep with this, because I seem to have hit a plateau. No losses last week after I hit the 83 mark, only been gaining since then, and feeling sick. But I think I’m retaining water. Because my ankles are swelling again - something which has not happened in months. Something is wrong with my system. So although the scale is showing no love, I’m not beating myself up. Patience. I have a plan.

The plan is that I’m going to watch my food. Journal it. Exercise. Journal it. And see. Basically to ensure that I’m actually doing what I think I am. Because, it so easy to eat high calorie/unhealthy/sugary stuff, and forget about it.  If there is no progress, I will need to join the gym. It’s possible that my body has gone into comfort zone, and I need to shake things up. I have also got my measurements today. So I can be sure if the gain is just muscle, and the fat inches are going away. Sounds good? To me, yes.

So here are the goals for December:

1. food journal

2. add evening exercise twice a week

I made a yummy soup yesterday. Something I’ve been craving for lately,

Broccoli & Cauli Soup (Recipe adapted from here):

You will need:

Brocolli & Cauli in equal amounts cut into florets.  (50 gms each)

1 onion

1 tomato

Skim milk – 100 ml ( I used nandini 2% fat – double toned milk)

Salt, pepper, red chilly flakes for seasoning

1 teaspoon – cooking oil ( I used cold pressed sesame oil from Jaivik)

Method:

First sauté the onion in oil. Then dice the tomato, and add it as well. Then add the cauli-brocolli.

Add about a cup of water. Close the vessel. Let it boil till the veggies become tender.

Let it cool. Transfer to a mixer. Blend till desired consistency.

Transfer back to vessel in which the veggies were made. Add milk. Wait until it warms up to desired temperature.

Season.

Relish.

I had this soup over a light bed of brown rice (also from Jaivik – I love Jaivik)

So, all set for December. Lets go(al)!