Surprising Yourself

I visited a friend in early May. I've known her for 16 years and through that time she has always been thinner than me. When I met her, I was not fat, but nor was she. Then she and I both gained some weight and so we maintained the size differential. I met her last in January, same story.

This time though, I had to borrow her clothes, and they actually fit (for the most part). This was shocking in itself, as she's a few inches shorter than me, but more importantly, has always been smaller than me! Anyway, we got past this shock and I hope I've inspired her to get some exercise. She's vegetarian, so lives quite a good life otherwise, just the lack of exercise.

I went on vacation and came back, and am now finding equilibrium again. I wanted to blog today because it's already been a good day (it's now 9:08 a.m.). I'm almost at goal weight, so the weight loss motivation for exercise may be fading. Last week, I exercised on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday. Bunked 2 days. This week, bunked Sunday and Monday, so had to go today. I was quite enthusiastic, having decided that I was going to jog 3 rounds around my building, so paced myself well through the first 2 rounds.

On the third round, I knew I had to stride for a bit, and my semi-competitive streak came out around this girl who has recently started walking. I wanted to overtake her at some point and it was an uphill stretch, so I had to stride, but I went at it faster and longer than I would have if she wasn't in the picture. I had to remind myself to breathe and the cool down took aaages, but it was fun! I got ahead of the girl I wanted to and stayed ahead of her till my final cooldown walk, I felt the muscles of my ass move, it was quite awesome.

I cannot explain it. They had their own reserves of energy and movement, I could barely control it, unlike the general walk/jog when you can decide how far/fast you go. I'm interested in doing this again. I know that my knees will ache a bit today, so expect that I will only do 20 odd minutes of walk and maybe 1.5 to 2 rounds of jogging tomorrow, which would still be better than nothing :)

Food is chugging along, I'm cooking more, more confident, less judged. Happy with my own cooking and getting enough done in 1 hour so I don't feel stressed. I also have sufficient healthy snacks so I don't get too hungry while cooking.

I'm at 63-64 and have decided that I want to be in the 62-64 range consistently. The range is because when I go out (socially - not just with husband) I'm forced to eat/drink like normal (some alcohol and simple carbs) so there's immediate effect on weight. If I allow myself, I'll be in the 64-66 range, which is not acceptable. 62-64 is what I want, and by Dec 2011, I'll ensure that I'm there.

In other observations, I'm slowly realising that I am thinner, I can feel differences in my body and I'm enjoying the muscle tone in my legs. I still have a paunch, so now the question is whether I want to work on toning or not. I probably do, but not in a gym.

Not Keeping At It!

Today is Wednesday, and the most exercise I've got this week is about 20 minutes of walk/jogging that I did on Sunday. I'm not sure why I've not done any exercise, except that I've not 'felt' like. But even at my most dedicated, I never actually 'felt' like it every single day. I'm going today, but expect that my enthusiasm will be higher than my stamina.

I'm also still at 63, despite the lack of exercise, so I may need to find some fresh motivation. Or find another type of exercise, or just go back to walking, so that I don't get horribly tired every day (part of the reason I didn't go in the mornings).

Will keep posting on this, I do not want to backslide!

Keeping At It

I'm now hovering at about 63 kilos and so, am almost at my goal. When I started, I wanted to get to 65 kgs (as I was 75) but figure that 65 is still slightly higher than ideal for my height, so I revised this about 2 months ago, to 62-63. When I was a teenager (fully grown in height) I believed 60 kgs was ideal, I'm clear now that aiming for 60 may be too much, so something additional is ok. Will still be in the 'healthy weight' zone. I'd like to get down to 62 by the end of June, but instead of focussing on weight, I'm focussing on food and exercise.

I've become more relaxed about eating, while trying hard to keep the focus on exercise. The relaxation is in eating more carbs and the occasional unhealthy snack, and now that the monsoons are beginning, I'm concerned about the willingness/ability to exercise. I'm trying to move the exercise to the mornings, so I get it done early and have the rest of the day to do other stuff (like work/cook).

I went to Pune some time ago and got out every morning, and got in 30 minutes of good exercise on 2 days. I discovered while there, that I can now extend the length of my stride for short periods, as my butt muscles are now developed to some extent. This morning, I tested this theory. I jogged about 15 minutes, in which I had to go uphill twice, and found that I didn't need to slow down for the uphills, just use the butt muscles. As a result, the muscles are slightly sore, but the effect was good. Will see how it feels tomorrow :)

With the monsoons beginning, it may soon be too cold to swim, but it's great walk/jog weather! Now to ensure that my wake/sleep cycles align enough to get out and at it, early enough to make it to office.

Almost There!

It's just over a month since I last wrote. This month has been challenging in that my weight stayed at 65-66 for weeks! I did travel a lot in April, so wasn't as regular with exercise as I should have been and was eating more and drinking more alcohol. Still, I wasn't too upset as it didn't cross 66.

Then, in early May (6th) I had to go away on work for a week. Similar issues with exercise, but I managed about 3 days in the week. I also did yoga for 15-20 minutes on 2 days. Came back to 65.

Today, I'm at 64. This is itself a major achievement. Since January 20th 2011, I've lost 11 kgs. I, who was convinced that I was too lazy to stick to an exercise schedule, and too much of a foodie to stop eating food, have successfully lost weight and inches.

Today, I'm wearing trousers, that 4 months ago wouldn't button up. Today, they are loose. I'm wearing a shirt that gaped between buttons, today it fits fine.

Also, I'd like to say that exercise has become a part of my 'normal' life, but I'm afraid I'll jinx it :) What I know though, is that with a few basic things at home (oats, fresh veggies), I'll generally eat better. I also am trying to move to morning exercise, so I'm not having to schedule my evenings around it. Let's see how that goes.

Today is even more special because I got up and went for a walk/jog. I wasn't dying to, but I did. I did as much as I thought appropriate, I'm still alive, and I'm 64kgs!

Photo time?

I wasn't very comfortable being photographed at my wedding (3.5 years ago) because I was fatter than I wanted to be. When I saw the pictures, I realised that I was even fatter than I thought I was. Since then, I've appeared in photographs, but pretty unwillingly. Last December was another such period in my life. I had a reunion to attend and I was fatter than I thought I was. This showed up very clearly in the photographs from the event and was part of my motivation for losing weight as well.

20th April 2011 will be 3 months since I started down this path and today I'm wearing clothes that are a smaller size than I've worn in the past few years. I'm also wearing 3 layers, and still don't look like the clothes are painted on. In short, the weight loss is obvious and apparently healthy as I'm able to lead an otherwise full life. Now, I want to be photographed, preferably wearing the clothes I was last photographed in, so I can see the difference for myself :)

I met a couple of friends last weekend. Friends who've seen me in January and December and apart from the weight loss, they noticed that my skin is glowing. I've always had a fairly good complexion, but for the past few weeks, I've noticed myself that it seems clearer and more elastic. In short, the body can really tell when the living is healthy. And given that I have the time and the means, why not indulge the body for a few years (as it has indulged me thus far).

Specific Updates

For one, I went shopping last weekend, and as I expected, I now fit into clothes that are size L, which is excellent! The weighing scale seems like it'll agree to 67 kgs this week, and though I'm travelling for the next 2 weekends, I've a feeling that I'll be able to keep it at 67. While this is still 7 kgs higher than my proper 'normal' weight, I'm no longer overweight, and most importantly - since January 20th 2011, I've lost 8 kgs!

The other specific updates are that I can now jog about 25 minutes. The pace isn't great, I expect it takes me 10 minutes per kilometer, and I can occasionally walk faster, but I'm certainly burning more calories and the muscles are getting a good work out! I'm also swimming 16 laps of the complex pool, which should be about 20 meters, so about 300m. Up from 12-14 laps 2 weeks ago. In mid-April, I may up this to 18 laps.

I'm swimming about twice a week, which is not amazing, but is good enough for me to notice a change in muscle tone of arms and shoulders. I'm certainly on my way to fitness!

April is a crazy month, I'm travelling 3 out of 5 weekends and all for fun. The main 'trauma travels' are the weekend of 2nd (2nd to 4th) as I'll be staying with relatives who do not understand fitness and portion control, so will probably insist that I eat more, and that I don't exercise at all, but let's see. I hope to walk at least one 1 of those days, and to eat as sensibly as I can.

The next weekend I'm with friends, who understand both. Though I'm going for a wedding, I'm sure I can find ways of walking/jogging for some time (8th to 10th). The third trip is to Singapore, staying with another friend who understands both and I should be able to swim on one or two, if not all 3 days (22nd to 24th).

I'll confess, I never thought this would happen to me, but my thinking about food has changed. I still love the same tastes/flavours but the amount I want to eat them has been affected by the exercise. I occasionally want to eat potato chips but I eat less than I would earlier, because I know that I'll have to exercise more, etc. Similarly with rice/wheat. It's an interesting shift, let's see how it works.

Two Months Update

We're just past 2 months and on a weight situation, I'm at 68 kgs. I have also lost some inches, though I'm not sure how much and from where. I do feel better and am continuing with about 6 days of exercise a week.

I'm actually posting now, because it's been 2 or 3 weeks since I've had a meal replacement shake, which has led to some confusion around dinner. I figured I should post a revised food path on here, to remind myself to eat enough, and eat well. Primarily because over the past week, I've made some bad choices every day. The main reason for the bad choices is because I didn't have healthy snacks at home, and we had unhealthy snacks :)

The new rules:

1. Breakfast - within 30-45 minutes of waking up. Preferably something like oats, if not 2 slices of bread with some veggies, or fruit, and milk.

2. Mid-morning snack/Lunch - sandwich/salad/cooked meal with simple carbs if required.

3. Mid-afternoon snack - sandwich/fruit smoothie. Fruit bowls may not be a great idea because of high sugar fruits.

4. Dinner - ideally only veggies, if it must involve a simple carb, it should be chappatis, brown rice or some such 'healthy' carb.

General Snacks - raisins, fruit, walnuts, almonds, carrots, fruit yoghurt. Buy each week!

The exercise part is still going well. The times I don't feel like exercising are when I'm hungry or tired, so a small snack before the exercise usually works well. I find that with the walk/jog, I have an inertia issue. If I jog and stop, I rarely feel like starting again. So I'm going to try jogging for extended periods of time (like 15-20 minutes) instead of breaking up the jog with walking. This week (on Monday 21st) I jogged for 2 five minute intervals in 30 minutes of walking and must confess that I couldn't start the 3rd interval. On the flip side, I had no knee pain at all after!

A general update would be? That it's going well with some slips here and there. I'm waiting for a while before I try on clothes, but I'm sure that it's going to be a fun experience soon! Maybe on or around 20th April :)