By Lavanya on February 4, 2011
So it has been a month since I started my new regime. I signed up with a NCCA accredited fitness trainer and nutrition coach who gave me a totally new workout and eating plan. No more counting calories, he said. Well, that was a first.
Less carbs, more protein, more good fats has been the mantra since. In the beginning, it was all “GASP! No bread, no pasta, no roti, what the hell am I going to eat?”
But the truth is, I have been eating better than before the past month. I tasted butter on Jan 6, 2011 after I don’t know how long. I eat paneer every other day – and here’s the best part – without ANY guilt. I grill it, stew it, make it into delectable sabjis and lap it all up! I eat nuts too – almonds, cashew, walnuts, macadamia, pecans, you name it, I eat it. Well, I need to be careful with it of course but the taste of a lightly toasted pecan is something I can really get used to!
It isn’t all play and no work. I do my workouts regularly. They are varied and tailored to suit me. On my non-workout days, I walk for 60 mins. On Sundays, I do Sun Salutations. I am more active than I have ever been in my life.
And yes, I am losing weight. I feel lighter in myself but more importantly, my stamina has increased a LOT. I can do my exercises for the prescribed time now – which is a massive improvement from when I started. But the best bit is that, I can keep up a bit more with my son when we do our mock races. That is the most priceless thing, as far as I am concerned.
I still have a long way to go before I reach my goal. But I am glad I took this step and changed my ways.
Posted in Challenge |
By Lavanya on February 1, 2011
If that is the first question that pops into your mind, then why don’t you come in and make yourself comfortable. Now, at the outset, let me make it clear that I am a student, trying to learn more about this concept and follow it so by no means take what I say to be gospel. You are, of course, welcome to make your own research and see if it works for you.
Low carbing refers to the practice of reducing the amount of carbohydrate intake and in most cases, this is considerably less than what is stated in the nutrition pyramids. These pyramids are carbs heavy and light on fats. But most low-carbers turn this on its head and reduce the carb quantity and increase the amount of protein and fat. Lots of people follow a 40/30/30 method – or 40% carbs, 30% protein and 30% fats – every day. Followers of Atkins diet follow a low-carb approach.
Mine is varied – my carb intake is based on my level of activity. So the days I workout, I eat a portion of carbs as a part of my post workout meal. On my non-workout days, I skip that. But that doesn’t mean that I get 0 carbs that day. I get it from sources like broccoli, cauliflower and other similar sources.
The more I get into this low carb approach, the more I see carbs. Carbohydrates are EVERYWHERE. If you are vegetarian, chances of you getting your hands on a protein source that is low on carbs is minimal. As I am lacto-ovo kind, ie the one that eats eggs and diary products, I resort to those for my protein hits. For omnivores like my husband, the possibilities are endless.
Here is a list of low carb foods to get you going.
Posted in Low Carbing | Tagged low carb |
By Lavanya on January 27, 2011
.. said my coach. The first time I read it on the manifest, I was like “WHAT?” There have been days when walking was all my fitness regime was made of. Heck, if I walked for 60 mins, I would have patted myself on the back for being uber good and rewarded myself with a Goodday biscuit or two!
These days, on my non-workout aka walking days, I strap the child on the buggy and walk up and down the hilly streets. More often than not, on non-rainy days, the endeavour finishes up at the local park, where the child will run around like Energizer Bunny and I sit on a bench and feel very pleased with the whole world in general.
How times change!
Today was slightly different as the finicky English weather and mounting housework put paid to my tramping down the streets. Even as my son asked me what I did during the day, I was ashamed to admit that I couldn’t do my walk today. As I sat with him later, watching Horrible Histories, I remembered of this Walk from Home clip I had used before. The bulb went off inside my head and I logged on to the site and did the 3 mile walk.
And you know what? It is far more strenuous than a regular walk down the streets – and my streets are mean and hilly! There were kicks, lifts and loads more, which ensured I had a far thorough workout than on my regular walking days. Now I am all walked out and am feeling righteous!
Posted in Fitness | Tagged walking |
By Lavanya on January 10, 2011
Today was not a regular day. Every day the past week, I made sure I was at home so I could get used to my diet and fitness routine. After 5 such days, today was a challenge as I had to leave at the crack of dawn (well, it was real dark when I left home) to go into London.
Which gave me the jeebies cos WHAT WILL I EAT?
A quick check with my fitness coach and my brother sorted me where my meal options are concerned. I made yummy asparagus crust-less quiche (a Rose Elliot recipe) and packed it for lunch. For snacking, I took a nut mix – some almonds, some cashew, walnuts and threw in some dried cranberries for good measure. Armed with a bottle of water, I was set.
And you know what? It was fine. I didn’t worry about what I was going to eat as I was sorted already. When I felt peckish, I first glugged some water. Followed it up a few minutes later with 4-5 nuts. The quiche tasted real nice cold so I had a lovely meal.
All in all, not bad for my first clean-eating outing!
Posted in Challenge |
By Lavanya on January 6, 2011
As the main part of my diet is made of proteins now, with vegetables following most of the rest of it, coming up with meal plans should be a breeze. Well, not exactly! I am a vegetarian and have few proper protein sources that don’t pack in a lot of carbs too. So it is generally eggs, tofu, paneer and such-like.
Typically, day 2 started with a weak tea, with two sweeteners in. I need to lose the sweeteners gradually – the fact that they have a bitter after-taste will help in weaning me off them. Lunch at 11.30 AM was a bowl of scrambled eggs, served with fruit and a tall glass of watered buttermilk, flavoured with salt and powdered cumin and garnished with chopped fresh coriander.
Dinner was a bit of hit-and-miss as I did not have any other protein source at hand. As I HAD to finish some eggs (else risk them going waste), I had planned to make pancakes for the rest of the family. And got a ‘no-evil pancake’ recipe for myself. Made a fruit compote from the stash of frozen summer berries which tasted awesome, if I say so myself!
The plan was perfect, execution, so-so.
Instead of whey protein, I used the milk & egg protein supplement I had at hand and the resultant pancakes weren’t nice. More meh than yum 
Still, I ate half of them with the compote and binned the rest. Then I had some cottage cheese with veggie pickle to round off the meal.
Posted in Food Diary |
By Lavanya on January 5, 2011
As part of eating right, I am following a reduced carb approach, one that is most suited to my activity level. Thus, I consume lots of protein and veg during the day and have carbs (rice or spuds) following my workout.
And so, on day 1, I had a glass of tea with a spot of milk and sweetener, with a bowl of scrambled eggs and 1/2 cup of jeera rice for lunch. Couldn’t spare any space for the salad so I postponed it for laters. For dinner, the rest of the family is going to have noodles with mushroom stir-fry. As I already ate eggs for lunch, I am going to have to workout what to have for dinner carefully.
- Dinner tonight – bigass bowl of salad with chilli paneer
Dinner was a big bowl of salad – lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, black olives, a tbsp of sweetcorn teamed with some chilli paneer for that vital protein fix. I couldn’t finish the paneer and ended up sharing it with the rest of the family.
Posted in Diet |
By Lavanya on January 5, 2011
So under the new regime, I have different exercises to do on different days. On non-workout days, I get off lightly (!) with a 60-min walk. But every Wednesday, I have to do burpees. If, like me, burpees didn’t exist in your universe prior to now, I shall look upon you fondly and call you kindred spirit. Thanks to Internet, I can show you a video of exactly what a burpee is when it is at home – click on this video link to educate yourself.
And I had to do – brace yourself – 50 of these! Count them, 50!! AFTER one of the most gruelling warm up sessions ever, that consisted of a gazillion jumping jacks, sit ups, lunges, pushups and squats. I did not think I will be able to do situps but was dead chuffed to see I could! The chuffed feeling didn’t last long as I tackled my first burpee – speed and finesse were out as I set about learning the move. It is much harder than it seems – I had to take a minute break after burpee #10 and then continue. The last 10 to0k AGES as I was sure I was dying and had to constantly reassure myself I wasn’t.
Best part was my son’s reaction. When he first saw me burpee-ing, his face took on the most comical expression.
“What on EARTH are you doing, Mummy?” queried he. If only I knew, Son!
After burpee #50, it was time to call it a day – after a thorough round of stretches, of course. When I finished off with the Child’s Pose, I sent out a silent “Hallelujah!” for having finished day 1.
Next time, I will prep my protein shake first, keep it ready on the table and then get cracking with the workout. By the time I had it sorted this morning, I was near faint with hunger!
Posted in Fitness |
By Lavanya on January 3, 2011
I have tried various methods to try and lose weight. I am carrying an excess of at least 15 kilos and it is time I lost them. Not purely for vanity factor but also for health reasons. Carrying so much bulk can’t be good for me and it is time I got rid of it.
I have tried most ways to do so. I have joined slimming clubs – WeightWatchers, SlimmingWorld – but though I lost some and the latter especially was quite easy as it fit my family too, I couldn’t continue with them in the long run. I tried going it alone, by just tracking my progress on My Fitness Pal but that didn’t work much. Then I tried the assisted approach and registered with JillianMichaels.com, which gave me both diet and exercise advice but I didn’t stick to that too.
I have realised what I need is someone on my case. I cannot be trusted with a list of things to do and expected to follow suit. I need someone that will badger me into sticking to a regime.
So I went and got myself a fitness trainer guy that gives me awesome advice re tailoring my diet to suit my activity level. I start my new regimen Wednesday. Wish me luck!
Posted in Challenge |
By Lavanya on December 25, 2010
When I started this, I wanted to see how much weight I can lose in the 50 days between Diwali 2010 and Christmas 2010. Well the answer was 7 pounds. I would have been happier had it been a wee bit more but I am not unhappy as I HAVE LOST 7 LBS!!
I shall take a break for the holiday period and get started in the New Year. Happy New Year everyone!
Posted in Challenge |
By Lavanya on December 17, 2010
Well I sent an e-mail yesterday to the team leader / consultant whatever you call her. I felt that the Slimming World approach and me don’t see eye to eye much. I will always be thankful that it gave my weight loss a kick start but I don’t think it is a methodology I can continue for ever. Don’t get me wrong, there are many things that are awesome about Slimming World and the best one was that the whole family can eat the same meal so there’s no faffing around with multiple meal options.
BUT – my main problems were two. One – the low fat substitutions. The low fat yogurt Muller Light was termed “free” and could be eaten any number of times. But it was so sweet! That much sugar CAN’T be right for you, right? Remember Episode 1 of The Apprentice? When they had to make sausages? The girls buy quality meat and make stonking good ones that were a bit on the expensive side, while the boys used as less as they could get away with and filled the rest with tat. Doesn’t that summarise the whole “low fat” approach? Take away the good and tasty ingredients and replace it with tat?
Two – the methodology was supposed to fit regular lifestyle. You could eat out, have ‘naughty treats’ and what have you and still stay on the wagon. One assumes birthday parties were part of the regular lifestyle but not as much as you’d think. Every week during the group ‘therapy’ sessions, when anyone’s weight gain was discussed, the response would always be “Oh I had to go to a birthday party”. Eh.
And then there was this bit that the consultant was a couple of sizes bigger than me. Not exactly something that filled me with hope!
Anyways, I shall always be happy for getting me into the 10 stone zone but this is where we say goodbye.
Posted in Challenge |
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