Day 5: Success

Ah! Finally! Did my much-awaited 30-min and 425 cal workout. Life is good.

Lunch was bhindi, nutre-nugget, two rotis, and the usual. In future, I'll try to be less repetitive :).

Day 4 & Breakfast

Breakfast yesterday consisted of an omelette made from two egg whites, a bowl of daliya, and some lassi. Then we headed out to the mall, where two hours of standing/walking (and some trying out of clothes) must've burned some calories too :). Came back to eat a not-so-healthy lunch ('cos there was a lot of aloo and some white rice). Then there was tea in the evening with one parle-g and one mathri. But after that I fell asleep (although the plan really was to work out). Woke up very late, had dinner (2 rotis, lauki, and nutrenuggets), then went back to bed. Yes, fail again.

Tried to experiment with this morning's walk a little by sprinting towards the end. Then realized I was one round short! So walked half and jogged half. It seemed plenty to bring up the heart rate, especially in the heat (after the jog I felt that my face was burning). Finished a 500-round of kapalbhati, along with the usual neck/shoulder stretches.

Came back home, had tea, then did yoga for almost an hour. It felt good to do all the exercises I could remember - the body felt active and energized. Ended with 5-mins of anulom-vilom.

Breakfast was quite a sight - the table was laid with what one usually sees in health ads :). Boxes of oat bran and corn flakes, non-fat milk, boiled egg-whites, wheat bread with tomato/cucumber sandwiches, and bowls of raisins, walnuts, and almonds. I took what I thought was my normal intake, but found it impossible to finish! I think the whole grains were activating the leptin. Phew.

Hopefully this day will be a success.

Day 3

was not a success. It went well until the evening. I slept before chai time, tired out from my visit to town, and kept sleeping until dinner time. Woke up to eat, and couldn't resist going back to bed for an hour. Woke up just in time to realize I had a conference call with my advisor, and then managed to stay up to watch a disappointing game (esp beat ger).

So, no evening workout yesterday :(. Day 3: FAIL.

And then

got conned into eating an egg yolk cos it was cooked with the egg white. Sigh. Anyway, the rest of the food intake included:

• a bowl of daliya with almonds, raisins, and walnuts (lots of them)
• one wheat toast
• salt lassi

I feel full!

Still at it...

So far so good - morning walk check, exercises/pranayama check, chai and one rusk check (though I picked up a second piece and then put it back), also did a bonus 5-min morning workout on the elliptical that burned me 65 calories.

On track and with a bonus. Good job, good job!

Day 2: Success

Phew. Managed to stick to the routine (with much help and prodding from mom and dad) and did my second evening of elliptical workout (20 mins, with some additional annoyance towards radio one for playing random songs and even more random ads). This is after a healthy lunch of two rotis, little rice, no aloo (gobhi, matar, kadhi, and dal instead) and then 3 small slices of mango. Now for some energizing nimbu pani.

Thank you, God!

Still on track

After a most pleasant 45-min morning walk, I had one cup of chai with one piece of rusk (instead of the usual two). Got in my back exercises, yoga (though minimal), and pranayama as well. Breakfast included 1.5 bowls of daliya with almonds, walnuts and raisins, the white of one boiled egg, and a generous serving of papaya. Now I'm drinking a glass of salt lassi. Satisfactory so far, yes?

More endorphins!

Just spent another 18-19 minutes on the elliptical. Tuned in to a radio station that was oh, so bad, I wanted to strangle the folks running the station as I worked out. Irritation rose sky-high as I wondered - how on earth can people run such random songs? What are they thinking? Aren't they just outright sadistic?

Oh well. All things come to an end and this did too. I'll sleep easy tonight. Let's hope this day can become representative of the entire summer now.

And with a vengeance!

Just had a long chat with Mom and Dad at lunch, and have decided the following:

• to walk every morning
• to use the elliptical every evening
• to have one mango a day
• no rice for dinner
• no full-fat anything!
• no other desserts
• daliya (with oats) for breakfast
• one boiled egg (without the yellow) at breakfast, too
• less is more!

Lunch was kadhi, nutrenugget, and beans-aloo. I tried to avoid the aloo and ate everything else. Two tiny rotis (without ghee) and a little rice. Can do better!

Back!

I'm back! A sustained (though not considerable) effort at getting fitter over the last three weeks has brought me back into the groove of wanting to revamp my food/exercise habits towards better health and fitness. More than anything, it's the endorphins that seem to have done the trick. A morning walk at 5.30 everyday, in addition to even just 15 minutes of pranayama find me quite a bit of peace and calm for the remaining part of my days. So let this be a fresh start.

This morning it was raining outside (yes, we had our first monsoon showers yesterday, and they were breathtakingly beautiful, as always) so I decided to use the elliptical for half an hour. Was listening to the radio and it helped to go for one more song and then one more song :). And then when I thought I was done, they played Tu jaane na which kept me going for another few minutes. Drenched in sweat, I took an invigorating cold shower and then did back exercises and pranayama for about half an hour. Feeling awesome, still. I hope this is the start of an addiction. Keeping fingers crossed.