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.

Popat

After a fabulous (and very, very wholesome) dinner at N's place yesterday (soy, paneer capsicum, and chana dal), I was all set for boot camp this morning. Woke up at 4.50 first, then realized I had more time, so promptly went back to sleep - a little too complacent about my ability to wake up on time. Unfortunately, the alarm collapsed because the phone was dead. I woke up to find that it was 6.06 and saw no point in going so late for boot camp. Instead, headed to the gym for a solid hour's workout which still feels wonderful. The plus, of course, was that the elliptical had a cable screen and I was able to watch an entire episode of Desperate Housewives on it. Not only was the workout painless, I learned that DH is not all too bad either. The lesson in today's episode - to not be too quick to judge - was entirely welcome and worth a thought. I also slipped in a few minutes of pranayam after stretches. Yay.

Breakfast consisted of chai and an exotic omelette (with egg, onion, tomato, mint, and some spinach/sour cream dip). Two heavily grained slices of bread made it even more healthful.

Barely Alive

No boot camp for two days now. Tuesday destroyed me and Wednesday did little to regenerate. I was sore in the abs, calves, hamstrings, glutes, arms, shoulder, neck... you get the picture. When I did decide to turn in, I realized there was no way I was gonna be up for boot camp this morning. And yes, the one plank I tried to do this morning proved me right. I will, however, admit that my core does feel stronger now, even after just five sessions. I suppose pain never (or seldom, to be safe) goes unwarranted. I'm still plenty sore, but will go tomorrow, come what may.

On the food front, let's go back to Tuesday now. Dinner was at Gather, a new organic restaurant in Berkeley. It was so awesome and so very Berkeley. I helped myself to tiny portions of the starters - mushrooms and asparagus, then had a chick-pea cake that was vegan and gluten-free. There was also startlingly good wine to go with the meal - a glass of California syrah.

On Wednesday, breakfast consisted of unhealthy gyozas (I meant to eat only 4, but 5 fell into the boiling water and I had no choice). For lunch, I had veggie quesadillas (with a salad on the side) at the FSM cafe. Also a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Dinner was home-cooked again - lauki dal with eggplant (and rotis and rice).

This morning, I tried my hand at making cold coffee, but the coffee was all wrong - Seattle's BEST, but not the instant kind. What was meant to be a shake ended up looking like a black/white oreo-like concoction (without the taste). I suppose the plus was that I ended up consuming all that milk, for a change. Breakfast was good ol' almond butter and banana. Lovable as ever. Sigh.

Lunch was at good ol' CP - rajma, chili paneer, and 3 rotis. Also had one tea this morning at Starbucks, and now a fantastic non-fat latte at Red Rock (that is 9/10ths done and looking mighty photogenic right now).

OK, that will be all folks. Dread to think of the impending weekend and what it might do to the diet again .

Keeping Up...

Last Friday's boot camp was rigorous indeed, and the weekend provided considerable relief! As for food, the meal at Google was healthy healthy - a plateful of salad with fruit for dessert (if only salad and fruit were always so tempting!). Friday was also a cafe kind of day - with the first half spent at Red Rock and the second at Epi Cafe. Dinner (before the live action shorts) was at Cafe Del Sol and not a meal to boast of at all.

Saturday, ahem, saw a brunch at Amber (and the spread was quite impressive). I certainly recommend the mint lemonade there (off menu and entirely perfect). Dinner was 1lb of food at Whole Foods - a quick meal before Avatar (which was amazing, btw). We also tried some Vietnamese iced coffee Saturday evening and is highly recommended for when you really desperately need a pick-me-up.

Sunday morning saw a brunch at Vik's - half a kathi, half a bhatura, and half a cuppa chai. With the Oscar party in the evening, health went down the drain :). The samosas were delicious, as was the food from Mehfil, but it's a good thing that Oscars come but once a year.

Monday's breakfast was a leftover samosa with chai (no boot camp, unfortunately, since I had my presentation in the morning). Lunch was with V at Chipotle - a veggie bowl with some unhealthful components. In the afternoon, I treated myself to a hot chocolate at the machine in the ischool kitchen (for $0.25!). The dinner was the real clincher though - lauki dal, guar beans, and veg. fried rice (with half a cup of orangina). Two gold stars there :).

Boot camp this morning killed me though - I am sore all over, as I usually am after every session. No doubt it will get worse still tomorrow. The push-ups, planks, step-up lunges, weight exercises destroyed me today. Came back, showered, and slept like a baby for an hour after. [Point to note: my alarm didn't go off today, because my phone magically decided to turn itself off overnight. I did however wake up at 5.09, anticipating the ring a minute later.]

Breakfast was the lovely and comforting almond-butter sandwich again, with a cup of chai that unluckily got fed twice as much sugar as it needed :(. Lunch will consist of the glorious leftovers and 2 rotis. A 'normal' cup of chai is much looked-forward to for the evening.

2.5: A Magic Number

Yesterday's lunch consisted of leftovers - rice with dal and eggplant. The eggplant was a little too salty for my taste, but at least it was home-cooked. The afternoon snack consisted of a cup of orange juice (fortified with calcium and vitamin d) but no chai after all. I felt motivated to cook dinner and hunted out some besan which, it turns out, was 2.5 years old but still edible! The resulting kadhi was pretty good, (recipe right here) though maybe not perfect. On the adjacent burner, I cooked aloo with pudina and tamatar. Perhaps a little on the too-sour side, but still pretty good. The white rice was mixed with a bit of brown, more for psychological satisfaction, I'm guessing, since it really was a rather small bit.

This morning's breakfast consisted of the usual - almond-butter toast with half a banana and chai. In an hour I shall treat myself to more of the kadhi and aloo. Yay :).

As for working out... I shall help myself to a walk to and from campus, but for all practical purposes, today's my off-day :).