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!

Day 14 - 10:44 pm

1 hour and 15 minutes walk!
stuck to my diet, even though I was tempted with mini pizzas and chocolate cakes ... :)
my scale showed my that I had lost some weight... so i've lost a kg in the past week! yay!!!

hoping to stick to the plan and lose some more!

ok, yesterday, I got this good healthy recipe... and it actually tastes good.

Karahi Brocolli
--------------------

Heat oil in a pan, pop mustard and cumin seeds.
Add brocolli florets into this, add salt and red chilly powder and give it a toss.
Add 1/4 cup of water to this, cover and cook till the brocolli is done.

My son eats brocolli cause of this recipe! :) yay for that!

Love yourself!

Day 12 - 5:07 pm

Good evening everyone! Yes, I didnt blog yesterday. I was thinking maybe I should make this an alternate day blog. What do you people say?

Anyway, my diet was almost perfect yesterday, and hence today the scale made me happy. Today being a saturday, the diet hasnt been going as I want , but not too bad either.

My pilates dvd has been my companion these days, and my muscles are aching ... which is a great sign, I know they are working :)

This was my breakfast today, a cup of it obviously no the whole thing. It has just a tsp of oil. I love it..yummm...

Vermicelli Upma

Love yourself!

Day 10 - 10:15 pm

Getting to the blog late today... just that today was kind of "no computer" day for me. I just didnt feel like switching it on and spending hours on it. The evening was eventful, where the husband and the dad splurged on cell phones for themselves... a BB Torch and an iPhone 4 , respectively :) And I love shopping, I dont care who is shopping and for who, I just love walking into a shop , looking at things and then walking out of it with something in hand. Well, its not always like that for me. When it comes to my shopping, I take a hell of a lot of time, and most of the time come out without buying anything. I cant buy something unless its just perfect, or atleast I think it is ( its another matter that I might change my opinion later) :)
  Anyway, I got to trying out the Pilates DVD yesterday. Its really good. Something like yoga, you dont have any fast movements, but after a good 40 minutes of it, all your muscles hurt . This morning I walked for an hour. And my diet today has been ok too. Not the usual though. So I dont know how its going to show on the scale tomorrow. Lets see.
  I had a slice of whole wheat bread, 1 egg white and half a cup chai in the morning. My lunch was a little heavier than usual with 1 chapati, veggies, dal, buttermilk, and 2 tbsps rice. In the evening was another 1/2 cup of chai with 2 rusks. Its after this that we went out, but thank god didnt eat out. So came back home and had an apple for dinner. So I think I am good for today. Lets see how it shows on the scale tomorrow.
  I tried to wear a salwar today (which I could easily wear 3 months ago) , and its gotten tight. :( I soooo have to lose  a lot of inches!
How have you guys been?

Love yourself!

Day 9 - 12:15 pm

G'afternoon people!! :)

yeah... I feel good... no idea why, but i do! Listening some old favourite songs... Hotel California by Eagles , being one of them. This is one of those days that I finish my walk, laundry, the cooking , the dishes etc, all before noon!  and I am still not complaining.. ha!

so my diet yesterday was pretty ok... the breakfast was the same bowl of cereal and water, but the rest of the day pretty much comprised of 1 chapati and a whole lot of veggies and fruits! So low carbs.

I started today with the usual, and then went for my regular walk. I came back home hungry, so had a 1/2 cup chai and a veggie s/w (2 slices whole wheat bread, 1 tsp pesto and veggies).

Now, I am not hungry at all, so I know I can limit my lunch intake. And today's lunch is egg fried rice and chilly gobi! So you know how difficult thats going to be to resist. Well, I will do it (hopefully ..hehehe).

The veggie s/w is real good.. you guys should try it...

Spread a tsp of pesto on one slice.
Top it with a whole lot of veggies( i used the leftover salad from yesterday ) .
Put the other slice on top and now heat a pan, put the s/w on it and press on it with a steel plate.. and press it hard, so that the slices stick together.
Keep it closed till one side browns, turn over and do the same.
*If you like cheese, you can add 1 slice in the s/w. Obviously makes it yummier, but a little less healthy. And of course you can butter the pan too if you want, which again makes it yummier...

Love yourself! 

Day 8 - 8:30 am

Ok, So I stepped on the scale today... and saw all that I ate and all the exercising that I didnt do showing :(
Its official! I gained the 800 gms backs ... sob sob sob sob

Well, time to bring out the big guns. Low carb diet today, trying to go for the "no" carb diet. Only veggies and fruits , if I can help it.

I need the will power to stay away from that piece of chocolate, or that bite of ice cream, or the bag of chips... all this that the son reaches for, and I cant eat. Its so difficult to watch someone ( be it your own son! ) eat something delicious and not be able to do so yourself. RESTRAINT!!! I need to exercise some restraint...

Checked out a couple of gyms here. They are so damn expensive!!! I mean VERY expensive.
So I guess I will have to stick to working out at home, and going for walks outside. Will be working out with a pilates dvd today... lets see how that goes.

Oh and btw, I am bloated and pms'ing... so I am sure the husbands gonna have a bad day today :D (wicked laughter) ;)

Love yourself!

Day 7 - 9:45 am

Ok, its a new day. Last day of the long weekend, and I have decided that enough is enough. I am done with the weekend , and so am going to treat this day as a normal working day. So my day started with the usual bowl of cereal and cup of warm water. The lunch is going to be chapati and vegetables and salad. And I am going for my 30 minute walk too.

I didnt step on the scale today. Dont want to see everything that I lost come back and be disappointed. I will step on it tomorrow. My goal is to lose 1 kg by next monday.

Day 6 - 9:30 pm

Ok, today was so bad, I am not even gonna blog about it. I am gonna forget about this day completely and start afresh tomorrow.

Just fyi, yesterday was good. So I ended up losing another 100 gm :) But I guess I would have gained that and more today. Today was a day spent at the mall!! A whole day imagine! That too with the husband and son! The son and me love spending time at malls or anywhere else outside the house! lol... but the husband is different. He prefers home! especially today since there was the nail biting match. But he didnt and isnt complaining :) So its all good.

Will do better tomorrow and blog it! How did your day go, people?

Love yourself!!

Day 5 - 10:45 am

Ok people, I missed Day 4 totally. Weekend you see! My diet was ok, not bad not great. The only downside is that I didnt work out. So obviously I havent lost any weight anymore. Guess I have to start walking again. 3 more days of holidays to go, hopefully it will be better than the last 2 days.

Day 5 started with my bowl of cereal and warm water. Will try my best to stick to my diet and workout routine today!

How are you guys doing?

Here is something I read :

A weightloss program has to feel comfortable. If it is not, you will hang on for dear life , and you will have trouble staying with it.

Day 3 - 9:45 pm

:'(

Total sabotage of my diet! See this is what happens when weekends hit us.... huge chocolate pastry with ice cream, shared between me and my hubby!

I limited my dinner intake to just a little spicy chicken from my son's plate... but then dessert compensated for everything I didnt eat these 2 days! I am so disappointed right now... Am sure it will show on the scale tomorrow.. Shows I have zero will power... I just couldnt say no to it... it looked so yummmm, and it was ;)

Well thats my day 3... lets see how day 4 goes! how did you guys do??

Day 3 - 11:45 am

Good Morning!!!! :)

Yes, I am happy today... Cause I have been religiously following this plan, and I already feel a lot better about myself. So, in short, if one loses weight or not, exercising regularly and eating right makes one feel awesome ... :)

Today I again woke up hungry! yayy! Had my usual cereal and warm water... Went for a 30 minute walk, went to the parent's place for some time, came back home and started cooking lunch. Well, home alone, I felt like having a coffee... Couldnt completely ignore the feeling, so ended up drinking 1/2 a cup, obviously with skimmed milk.

Lunch today is chapati for me, rice for the son, pepper chicken, potato stew and veggie salad. Today's salad tastes better than yesterday's. I guess I could snack on it when I feel hungry.

So far so good on my program... but now comes the tricky part. Starting today is the long weekend.. :( 4 days holidays. And we have this tendency to eat out during weekends... I hope I can stick to my diet even if we do. God help me through these 4 days!!!

Oh and by the way, I've lost 800 gms since I started the program... I know its doesnt sound like a lot, but somethings better than nothing!!! yayyyyyy!! :)

Veggie Salad  - no oil

1 Cucumber
1 Totato
1 sleeve celery
a bunch lettuce leaves
1/2 red capsicum
1/2 cup chickpeas
a handful of mint leaves
a little dill

dressing - salt,pepper and a little balsamic vinegar.

Day 2 - 9 pm

Successful day 2 :)

My lunch consisted on 1 chapati , a whole bowl of the tuscan salad, 2 tbsp of mixed veg curry and 1/2 cup of yogurt.

Went for the 30 minute walk in the evening, as promised, and then another 15 minutes of ab workouts :) yayyyy! :)

Dinner was a sandwich. 2 slices of whole wheat bread with 1 tsp pesto and a whole lot of the tuscan salad in between. Have to say, that was yummm...and very filling. Ended it with a slice on apple too.

I am yet to reach my goal of drinking 8-10 glasses of water daily. This I have to work on.

Am sooo tired today. Guess I will hit the bed early... Good night people... have fun and stay healthy!

Love yourself!

Day 2 - 2:30 pm

Firstly, couldnt go for the walk in the morning. :( Had to head out and do some grocery shopping and get back before the son got back from school. Will head for the walk in the evening.

Tried the Tuscan Salad. Not as amazing as I imagined it to be. But good. I found out that I am not a great fan of Feta Cheese. So next time, I am not including that in the salad. I love the chopped almonds, chickpeas, mint, dill and the mixed greens. I added some celery , which I didnt like too much. Celery has a definite taste, which my taste buds arent really liking. But then I have heard that its really good for the weight loss. So definitely going to include it. Just force myself to like it :p

Today's cheat was a piece of awesome Coffee Cream.. its a small coin sized chocolate covered coffee cream... yummmmmm

Day 2 - 8 am

Good Morning everyone!! :)

I woke up hungry today! After a long time! hahaha... now this is what hunger actually feels like. So started off my day with my customary bowl of cereal and a cup of warm milk. Trying to avoid the usual cup of coffee. Heard its bad for health and weightloss.

Now, there is this amazing book, "Dont Lose your Mind, Lose your Weight" ... If followed properly, it can do wonders. And it assures no starving. Actually , you eat more than you normally do according to it. Well, obviously you have to burn it too. I have this book with me, and planning to start incorporating some of it too. Kicking the coffee on an empty stomach is the first.

I got this amazing salad recipe yesterday, atleast sounds amazing :) Going to try it out once I go out and get all the ingredients...

Heres the recipe...

Tuscan Salad

mixed greens
yellow capsicum
cucumber
tomato
chopped nuts
chana (chick peas)
flax seeds
dill
mint
feta cheese
baked chicken

For the dressing, you mix equal amounts of balsamic vinegar and olive oil, add a  teaspoon of dijon mustard ( optional ) and whisk together.

Check it out people!! Sounds good...Let me know how it turns out... Am now heading out for my walk...:)

Love yourself!!

My first day's first blog !: My First Day!

My first day's first blog !: My First Day!: "So I decided to get on a weightloss/ stay fit program today. Also decided to blog about it on a daily basis, for the added pressure, and so ..."

My first day's first blog !: Day 1 - 11 pm

My first day's first blog !: Day 1 - 11 pm: "My dinner wasnt sabotaged! yay!!! :) So this is how my afternoon went - napped for a while with the son, 30 minutes or so. I have to someh..."

Day 1 - 11 pm

My dinner wasnt sabotaged! yay!!! :)

So this is how my afternoon went - napped for a while with the son, 30 minutes or so. I have to somehow kick that habit. Have heard its bad for weight loss. By around 4 pm, was really hungry :( Had a cup of tea (with skimmed milk) and 2 rusks. Now comes the 'not so good' part of my diet plan... I ended up giving into temptation and had half a samosa.. I love samosas! So it was really hard for me to just stick to half, but I did.

After a session of feeding, bathing and homework for the son ( which takes up all my energy) , we went to see the Kuwait illuminations as planned. The place looks beautiful.. These people really know how to celebrate!

My dinner was 1 chapati , vegetables and a glass of buttermilk. The timing wasnt great though. I should eat earlier.
So I guess my first day was not too bad, but I can do better... atleast get rid of that 1/2 samosa. :) God, give me more will power tomorrow. :)

Now I have to get to bed, tired and sleepy... good night people! dreamland beckons....

My First Day!

So I decided to get on a weightloss/ stay fit program today. Also decided to blog about it on a daily basis, for the added pressure, and so that I can share info and healthy recipes with all of you out there.

I started blogging today on a site called dietblog.com. I can't seem to access it anymore :(  So now, I am here. Hope this is better...

So I started off the day with a cup of warm water and a bowl of cereal with skimmed milk. Then after sending my son off to school, I had my one hour of music class. After the class I head out for a 40 minute walk. The weather is lovely, so it helps! With some good music in your ears , you dont see time flying. Then spent some time with my parents.Yeah I am lucky enough to have them living 2 buildings away from my place.
So today lunch was courtesy my mom :) But I wasnt really lucky enough to enjoy it really. After the walk, I was famished and so snacked on carrot sticks! yay!!
Lunch was a bowl of vegetable salad, 1 chapathi, vegetables and a cup of yogurt. After which I craved something sweet... :( But thankfully mustered all my will power to not reach for the piece of chocolate in the refridgerator. Instead had a handful of green grapes.
So far so good. Hoping I can keep up with this.
Planning to head out this evening to see the lights that have been put up all over the country  to celebrate its 50th independence and 20th liberation. Heard its pretty awesome. Hoping that my dinner plans dont get sabotaged.

fyi --- Vegetable Salad was yumm... simple to make and yummy -- Just cut up some tomatoes, cucumber, carrots, green pepper(capsicum) , a small red onion and half an apple. Add some lemon juice and some salt and toss. Enjoy!!

People, share your tips, routines, ideas, healthy recipes etc. here. It would be fun to share all this and be in this together!