This blog is not gonna be helpful to a lot of people because I did not do anything special. Also, because everyone has a different body, and different weight loss goals so it's not mandatory for one thing to work for everyone. I also consulted a dietitian in Brampton, he guaranteed I would lose 20 pounds in 5 weeks for $2000. No thank you! I don't wanna kill myself. I am not walking the ramp in Mumbai next week, so clearly I am in no hurry. The slower, the better. Because if you crank on those machines and starve yourself for 2 months to lose as much as you possibly can, when you return back to your normal lifestyle, you will gain most of it back. And I didn't wanna do that. So, I figured I'll take it slow, even if it takes me a year. But I am NOT putting myself on any herbal pills or starving myself.
A lot of people go on strict diets, start taking weight-reducing pills, go to the gym twice a day, hire a trainer etc etc. All I did was, go to the gym about 2-3 times a week (one hour workout) and take out the fats and sugars from my diet.
A lot of people lose weight and never tell you how they've done it. They make some stupid reason, like "I love dancing." Um, yeah you lost 40 pounds by dancing in 2 months? Were you dancing 18 hours a day or what? I have no hesitation in sharing exactly what I did. It's of no use to me to hide it because if I am encouraging or inspiring someone right now, and I could be of help, there's nothing better than that. So, here we go...
Gym:- I am not a heavy trainer at ALL. That's why I mentioned in the earlier blog that I probably use only 30% of my potential to lose weight. If I am doing a one hour workout, I would spend 30 minutes on the treadmill, 10 on the elliptical and 20 for weight training. If I am doing a 1.5 hour workout, then I would do the treadmill for 30, the bike for 15, the elliptical for 15, 10 minutes on the stairs and 20 for weight training.
In detail:- Treadmill (I always did the "Fat Burn" on 3.5, it inclines to level 13 I believe) and running on 5.5 (without incline) for the last 10 minutes to get that heart rate up before I get onto the weight training. I go easy on the elliptical because I hate that machine, lol. I swear I feel like a horse or something :S It helps a lot though. For the weights, I did biceps, triceps, abdominal, leg press, and the rowing machine. I switched them up every alternative day so I wouldn't get bored of it. Example, I would do a leg workout one day and arm workout the other. If my legs and arms were sore, I would work on abs and so on. And this is only like twice or thrice a week - no extensive workouts!
Diet:- I stopped eating anything with sugar in it. I never thought of myself as a calorie-counter but had to become one eventually. Well, not a counter but a reader. Now I read the nutritional information before I eat something. My B12 has always been low because I am not a fan of non-vegetarian food. So, I started eating meats like chicken and red meat and a lot of egg whites. I also drank milk (I never used to before). I don't do protein shakes yet, but I will start them next week. I ate roti and the regular stuff made at home (just less in serving) and a lot of veggies (salads! salads! salads!) AND at least 5-6 bottles of water each day. And that's pretty much it.
I didn't have a plan or schedule for what I am gonna eat. I just ate every 3 hours, starving actually sends the wrong message to your metabolic system. Eating at the "same times" everyday also helps set a routine and helps with a good metabolism. The goal is to eat, but eat healthy - STARVING does not help!
Other minor changes which actually help along the way - If you're a pop lover like me, switch from the regular Coke or Pepsi to Diet or Coke Zero. That still has aspartame in it which is not good for health, so make sure to only drink it when you are absolutely craving pop (I did it once a week-ish). I am a coffee addict, so I just changed the amount of sugar I get in my coffee to one or even half. And change the "cream" to "milk." If I would crave iced coffee from Tim Hortons, then I would ask them to put ONE spoon of their beverage base (instead of three) to fulfill that craving and not take all those calories in. You can modify every meal, your way, and make it a lifestyle, a habit. If you treat it as a diet, it's not gonna help. I did not eat any vegetables until pretty much last year, seriously. And now, I am in love with veggies. And for salads, try to get all colours of the rainbow, it helps you attain all those minerals and vitamins that your body needs.
And the funny thing is - I followed all this for just February and March. I fell flat in April because of exams. I probably gymmed 5 times at UTM in that month, but the diet was still on. Then I went to India for 6 weeks, and ate at wrong times, uncontrollably. I know it was wrong but I ate a lot of ice cream, drank a lot of shakes and ate out every single day of those 6 weeks. I don't remember eating home cooked food in India. Maybe, once or twice. Yet, I still lost a few pounds there because it was so hot, and I drank water like a camel, literally. I walked a lot, drank a lot of water, and sweat a lot, yet ate like a pig. Now, I am trying to adapt to a good diet again and not planning to get carried away with holiday weight and vacation-eating. I cheat about once or twice a week but hopefully, I will let go of that too, soon.
And that's all I have :) Hope it helped some people. Good luck for those who are also going through this. Be healthy!
A lot of people go on strict diets, start taking weight-reducing pills, go to the gym twice a day, hire a trainer etc etc. All I did was, go to the gym about 2-3 times a week (one hour workout) and take out the fats and sugars from my diet.
A lot of people lose weight and never tell you how they've done it. They make some stupid reason, like "I love dancing." Um, yeah you lost 40 pounds by dancing in 2 months? Were you dancing 18 hours a day or what? I have no hesitation in sharing exactly what I did. It's of no use to me to hide it because if I am encouraging or inspiring someone right now, and I could be of help, there's nothing better than that. So, here we go...
Gym:- I am not a heavy trainer at ALL. That's why I mentioned in the earlier blog that I probably use only 30% of my potential to lose weight. If I am doing a one hour workout, I would spend 30 minutes on the treadmill, 10 on the elliptical and 20 for weight training. If I am doing a 1.5 hour workout, then I would do the treadmill for 30, the bike for 15, the elliptical for 15, 10 minutes on the stairs and 20 for weight training.
In detail:- Treadmill (I always did the "Fat Burn" on 3.5, it inclines to level 13 I believe) and running on 5.5 (without incline) for the last 10 minutes to get that heart rate up before I get onto the weight training. I go easy on the elliptical because I hate that machine, lol. I swear I feel like a horse or something :S It helps a lot though. For the weights, I did biceps, triceps, abdominal, leg press, and the rowing machine. I switched them up every alternative day so I wouldn't get bored of it. Example, I would do a leg workout one day and arm workout the other. If my legs and arms were sore, I would work on abs and so on. And this is only like twice or thrice a week - no extensive workouts!
Diet:- I stopped eating anything with sugar in it. I never thought of myself as a calorie-counter but had to become one eventually. Well, not a counter but a reader. Now I read the nutritional information before I eat something. My B12 has always been low because I am not a fan of non-vegetarian food. So, I started eating meats like chicken and red meat and a lot of egg whites. I also drank milk (I never used to before). I don't do protein shakes yet, but I will start them next week. I ate roti and the regular stuff made at home (just less in serving) and a lot of veggies (salads! salads! salads!) AND at least 5-6 bottles of water each day. And that's pretty much it.
I didn't have a plan or schedule for what I am gonna eat. I just ate every 3 hours, starving actually sends the wrong message to your metabolic system. Eating at the "same times" everyday also helps set a routine and helps with a good metabolism. The goal is to eat, but eat healthy - STARVING does not help!
Other minor changes which actually help along the way - If you're a pop lover like me, switch from the regular Coke or Pepsi to Diet or Coke Zero. That still has aspartame in it which is not good for health, so make sure to only drink it when you are absolutely craving pop (I did it once a week-ish). I am a coffee addict, so I just changed the amount of sugar I get in my coffee to one or even half. And change the "cream" to "milk." If I would crave iced coffee from Tim Hortons, then I would ask them to put ONE spoon of their beverage base (instead of three) to fulfill that craving and not take all those calories in. You can modify every meal, your way, and make it a lifestyle, a habit. If you treat it as a diet, it's not gonna help. I did not eat any vegetables until pretty much last year, seriously. And now, I am in love with veggies. And for salads, try to get all colours of the rainbow, it helps you attain all those minerals and vitamins that your body needs.
And the funny thing is - I followed all this for just February and March. I fell flat in April because of exams. I probably gymmed 5 times at UTM in that month, but the diet was still on. Then I went to India for 6 weeks, and ate at wrong times, uncontrollably. I know it was wrong but I ate a lot of ice cream, drank a lot of shakes and ate out every single day of those 6 weeks. I don't remember eating home cooked food in India. Maybe, once or twice. Yet, I still lost a few pounds there because it was so hot, and I drank water like a camel, literally. I walked a lot, drank a lot of water, and sweat a lot, yet ate like a pig. Now, I am trying to adapt to a good diet again and not planning to get carried away with holiday weight and vacation-eating. I cheat about once or twice a week but hopefully, I will let go of that too, soon.
And that's all I have :) Hope it helped some people. Good luck for those who are also going through this. Be healthy!
That cheating needs to change to once or twice a month ;)
ReplyDeletePS. Dont ever go to India when trying to lose weight.
ReplyDeleteResistance is futile, my child.
The food is TOO good.
The vada pav, pav bhajis, butter chicken, tandoori chicken, khandvi, pakodes of alll kinds, biryani, vegetable biryani, pizza hut pizzas. not to mention ras malai,
gosh :)
Okay wow :/ I ate everything that you just listed minus khandvi. And I mean everything from the vada pavs all the way to the ras malai. I am fat :/
ReplyDeleteHahahaha
ReplyDeletenooo that's not what I meant.
It's okay haha
I was just naming off some foods to say resistance is futile.
It's just not possible to resist (and shouldn't be, lol. You traveled half way across the world for many things, and the food was a huge part of it)
ESPECIALLY PIZZA HUT PIZZAS.
ReplyDeleteunbelievable.