Moderation is the KEY!

There is absolutely nothing wrong in eating what your heart desires, as long as it is in moderation. This is also true in the case of exercise. An hour of cardio a day sounds daunting, but must be done. Isnt it easier to moderate and space out your exercise by doing 15 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the evening, and then another 15 minutes before you sleep. Or maybe two 30 minute sessions per day.

The short exercise sessions throughout the day help burn calories and keep fat at bay. When you teach yourself how to moderate food intake, you also teach your body how to control your appetite and assimilate food.

Who wants to be on a diet for the rest of their lives? NOBODY! Food is AWESOME, and dieting SUCKS! Hence MODERATION IS KEY!

More tips to stay on diet-track!

11. Drink your green and white tea. Studies prove these two will help the body burn more fat and preserve lean body mass while suppressing appetite and elevating your energy level.

12. Read the labels. Loads of fat and sugar are consumed, hidden under label claims of “fat free,” “lean,” “light,” “low fat”.

13. Don’t guess. Weigh or measure your food first. How many calories are in that bowl of low-fat cereal?

14. Stay out of the kitchen. Fix your meal, eat, put the dish for wash and leave.

15. Don’t watch the commercials. Leave the room, go get a drink of water, check your e-mail, etc. Food manufacturers come out with delicious new products and market the hell out of them just when you happen to be trying to stick to your diet.

16. Never stray too far from a mirror. When all else fails and your willpower is failing, peel off and check yourself out in the mirror. You are your own best critic.

17. Spice up your food. Cayenne pepper, ginger, cumin and chili powder (amongst others) not only make meals interesting without adding significant calories, but studies have shown that these spices have a thermogenic effect that helps burn more fat.

18. Socialize with other dieters. Misery loves company. :)

19. Weigh yourself just once a week. Fluctuations of a kilo or two are common day to day. Weekly readings should show your true progress as well as indicate if the diet is really working.

20. Order sauces and salad dressings on the side. Even healthy-looking dressings and sauces can be infested with fat. Dipping your knife in the sauce first, then spearing the food can give you the flavor with a minimum of useless calories.

Tips for staying on track ... and on the diet

1.Accept the facts. There’s no magic involved in getting your body to burn stored fat. You must change the way you live and the way you eat. You must commit to this fact or you will fail.

2.Do your cardio. 30-45 minutes of intense cardio will not only burn 300-500 calories, but it will also keep your metabolism elevated for up to six hours post workout.

3.Don’t Cheat. You and only you are in control of what you eat. Who’s going to know if you are a little liberal on the salad dressing? You are, so don’t lie to yourself, and only eat what your diet allows. NO CHEATING!

4.Picture the end result. Look in the mirror and picture the future. Imagine what you’ll look like when you reach your goal.

5.Be Realistic. You didn’t gain all your weight in a week, so it’s going to take more than a week to take it off.

6.Eat foods high in fiber. Salads, leafy green vegetables, etc. fill you up with good colon-cleansing roughage with virtually no calories

7.Go low fat. No more than 20 percent of the calories per serving should come from fat. The 20% should come from healthy fats.

8.Rid the house of junk. Junk food can be defined as anything that’s not included in your diet.

9.Don’t shop hungry. All kinds of things can end up in your shopping cart because they look interesting. Prepare a list and stick to it.

10. Make the news of your diet public. Friends and family will show some compassion and not push you to eat calorie dense foods.

Those are the amazing tips for today!! Am sure everyone knows all this, but we all tend to forget about it all when we see a plate of yummmm calorie dense anything.So just reminding :)

Back to square 1 - Start all over! Day 1

So as the title explains all by itself, I am back to square 1. I have a week's trip to Mumbai to blame for that. And the fact that the only exercise I got was mall hopping and I ate everything  was craving for the past year.
I have to say that ever since I got back I have been working out religiously, atleast for an hour. Got this amazing workout DVD from Mumbai. Now, people dont laugh, or judge , but its the Bipasha's Love yourself DVD, and guys, its really good. The beginner's workout makes me sweat ( and its not hot here yet). Thats 25 minutes of her workout, and an hour's walk in the evening. But yeah , the diet isnt happening yet. I was on Mumbai hangover :D in a food zone.... cooking, baking...
So today I woke up and broke my fast with a coffee and a piece of my brownie :D and then decided that enough is enough.  I have to get back to my blog, and I have to be reporting to someone, else I will lose this battle.

By the way guys, if you really want to have the brownie , or any extremely calorie rich thing, have it first thing in the morning. Apparently , it gets used up for energy. No clue if its true, but I am sure its better than eating it later in the evening.
Now some tips for staying on track... and on the diet... coming up in my next post...

Day 24 - 9:15 am

I havent blogged for 5 days! Was swarmed with my fever, my son's fever , hospital visits, and packing. Yes, packing for Bombay. Leaving tonight , for a small vacation of 5 days. :) Cant wait to get there. Shopping!!! yay! :) And eating! So be forewarned... I am not blogging for the next 5 days. And I am not dieting. I just hope all the mall hopping and shopping will be my workout!

Love yourself!

Day 19 - 11:12 am

Woke up feeling like a pumpkin! On a fluid diet today. Lets see if I can keep up with it. Weighing in tomorrow, I dont want to have put on any.

Day 18 - 3:36 pm

Ok... hitting the blog after 4 days. And all I have to say is that the diet is going well, the walk is going better than I expected, meaning I am still going and I havent missed a day :)

My weight, I havent checked the past 4 days. Decided to check it on Sunday. The weekend spells trouble. Lets see how I cope. Already had 2 pcs of KFC yesterday night. :( But I dont think it has shown too much. We'll see on sunday.


People, I need more input from you guys. How are you doing? Any healthy recipes to share. Am thinking of starting a recipe blog too. :)


Love yourself!