How I lost 17.5 pounds in two months?!

Leaving behind the hustle and bustle of city life to start an ordinary life in a simple, unique and beautiful country like Oman has been nothing short of bliss in many ways, especially if you perceive life not based on how many breaths you took, but how many moments took your breath away. Yes, I had a second chance to live life to the fullest in Oman four years back with the hope that the desires close to my heart will no longer be dreams. The first year kicked off with a great sense of gratitude, thanks to the accomplishments in family-aspects, healthy lifestyle, peace, tranquillity, long distance running, swimming, blogging, toastmasters etc. Notably, the health aspect was amazing during the first two years so much that I was fit enough to run half marathon, swim for 1km non-stop, felt good about my body, but even during these two years of good times, something vital had been missing in me which I did not realize then: an unbalanced mind & spirit. Although it was missing during the first two years of good times, it did not affect my pursuit to better health and fitness, as the environment around me was ordinary and uneventful. But with the advent of the third year, my life transformed from “ordinary and uneventful” to “insane levels of stress and frustration” at work as I was thrust- with a responsibility of a major Oracle ERP implementation. This adverse transformation took a toll on my health and this is when the vital factor (unbalanced mind & spirit) became conspicuous.

The fairy tale, “two years of bliss” spun out of balance during the third year and, as a result, I became fatter by 23 pounds in just 12 months. My “empty” over-confidence in health and fitness shaped me to be a hypocrite that made me to believe that I was not overweight.

Then the reality struck!! I was overweight!! I was dumbfounded when I realized that I couldn’t even reduce 1 pound. I couldn’t believe it!! From 163 pounds to 185 pounds in one year!!  Something was terribly amiss.

My guilt-trodden mind engaged in intensive introspection on what went wrong and provoked waves of deep thoughts, but still the ultimate truth and answer never dawned on me. Feeling so lost in a maze, forces of nature introduced me to something that gave all the right answers for my fragile, unbalanced “mind & spirit”:

Yoga!!

I was still oblivious to the fact that this vital aspect was missing and this missing piece of the puzzle was the Achilles’ heel that made my fragile state vulnerable to the undue stress imposed by the change in the work environment.

The priceless lesson learnt was that no matter how fit we are physically with rigorous exercises, if the spirit is not in the right balanced state with the body and mind, even a slight change in the external factors will spin the delicate balance out of control resulting in the ups and downs of body weight and mental state.

The Core Foundation

This is exactly what Yoga is all about. Yoga means to be in perfect tune; your body, mind and spirit are in absolute harmony with existence. When you fine-tune yourself to a level that everything functions beautifully within you, the best of your abilities will naturally flow out of you. Have you noticed that when you are happy you have endless energy? Even if you skip your food or sleep, you will have so much energy to just go on. Just a little happiness liberates you from your normal limitations of energy and capability. Yoga is the science of activating your inner energies in such a way that your body, mind and emotions function at their highest peak. Ultimately, Yoga strengthens that balance so much that no external factors in real life can spin your balance out of control.

Typically, we jump-start with a rigorous exercise routine to shed excess weight but the biggest problem that most of us have is the consistency factor. We start the exercise with great enthusiasm and passion for a couple of weeks and then lose the steam for months which reflects in the ups and downs in the body weight as well.

The Workout

Yoga is the core, but a bit of variety worked for me. For me, combination of Yoga, circuit training at the gym and running, really did the wonder by shedding 17.5 pounds in just two months.

-        Day 1     Yoga 1 hour

-        Day 2     Circuit Training at Gym + 15 minutes cardio + 10 minutes of Yoga/Pranayama

-        Day 3     Yoga 1 hour

-        Day 4     Circuit Training at Gym + 15 minutes cardio + 10 minutes of Yoga/Pranayama

-        Day 5     Running – 1 hour

-        Day 6     Yoga 1 hour

-        Day 7     Relax or Yoga Meditation

Diet

Now, comes the tricky part: DIET. Each of us have our naturally ways of venting out when we are stressed and mine is to eat, eat and eat. When I get stressed out, I eat bars of snickers, packets of M & Ms, a variety of Indian sweets, chicken tikka masala with white rice at 11pm etc. This was a perfect recipe to be obese in no time. For the kind of reckless diet that I engaged myself in, I should be thankful that I put on only 23 pounds in 12 months.

Tips on diet restrictions that helped me greatly:

1.       Start off with a complete medical check-up to ensure that you do not have any major health issues.

2.       Sleep

a.       Do not sleep late. Go to bed by 10pm

b.      Wake up by 5pm

c.       Sleep is fundamental to many aspects in life

d.      If your mind is disturbed before going to bed, meditate to clear your mind.

e.      If you are not getting good sleep or waking up in the middle of night and cannot continue your sleep, something is wrong with your balance for which meditation techniques can help greatly.

f.        Do not drink too much water before going to bed and you may have to wake up in the middle of the night to drain your bladder.

3.       Never be hungry.

a.       No long breaks between meals.

b.      Have fruits or nuts or milk between meals.

c.       Healthy snacks will not make you super-hungry which will help avoid overeating.

4.       Water

a.       Do not drink water 30 minutes before and after food.

b.      Many a times, we feel tired and the reason is that we forget to drink water. Keep your body hydrated all the time.

5.       Water Therapy

a.       Drink one litre of warm water mixed with one spoon of pure honey.

b.      This helps is avoiding over 20 diseases.

6.       STOP sweets. A major factor. If you cannot stop, at least moderate.

7.       Rice

a.       No white rice.

b.      Switch to broken brown rice.

c.       No rice at night, even broken brown rice.

8.       Whole Wheat: in all foods

9.       Drink low fat milk

10.   Vegetables: Have plenty of vegetables, preferably with all meals or snacks

11.   Fruits

a.       Always eat fruit in an empty stomach.

b.      Eating the fruit is healthier than fruit juice.

c.       Have a fruit before any meal.

12.   Finish dinner by 7 to 8 pm. A cup of low-fat milk before bed is fine.

Daily Routine:

-        Wake up by 5am à waking up early triggers a wave of positive thoughts and energy.

-        Water therapy at 5am à Drink 1 litre of warm water mixed with 1 tease spoon of pure honey.

-        8 am Breakfast

o   Do not drink water 30 minutes before and after food.

o   Fruit before food à papaya or banana or apple or orange

o   2 dates

o   Breakfast Options

1.       Museli with skimmed milk

2.       Whole wheat bread with egg whites

3.       Whole wheat dosa with sambar / puthina chutney / tomato chutney (no coconut chutney)

4.       idli

-        11am Snack

o   Do not drink water 30 minutes before and after food.

o   Fruit before food à Always have fruits in empty stomach

o   One cup of skimmed milk

o   One slice whole wheat bread with fat free cheese spread

-        1 pm Lunch

o   Do not drink water 30 minutes before and after food.

o   Fruit before food à Always have fruits in empty stomach

o   Lunch Options

1.       Broken brown rice 1 cup, with any vegetable and/or chicken, dhal & salad

2.       Whole wheat spaghetti with vegetables and/or chicken & salad

3.       If you have the luxury of having lunch at home (like me… hee hee)

·         Broken brown rice with

o   Fish curry / chicken curry / veg curry varieties

o   Two vegetables

-        4 pm Snack

o   Do not drink water 30 minutes before and after food.

o   Fruit

-        6 pm Snack if hungry

o   Marie biscuits or buttermilk

-        7 pm Dinner

o   Do not drink water 30 minutes before and after food.

o   Fruit before food à Always have fruits in empty stomach

o   Dinner Options

1.       Veg salad with avocado à if you feel that you have had too much food during day time.

2.       Whole wheat chappathi and veg dish

3.       NO non-veg for dinner

-        9 pm

o   Banana

o   1 cup of skimmed Milk

Tips for strengthening your balance on a daily basis:

1.       Meditate early morning and before going to bed à Just close your eyes and:

a.       Pray

b.      Feel gratified àThink through the list of blessings that you have.

c.       Prepare your mind & spirit

                                                               i.      Early Morning

1.       Think of all the positive aspects that you need to have in order to have a successful day.

2.       Never to get angry

3.       Be a leader with extraordinary patience

4.       Be calm, cool and pleasant all the time

5.       Do not react impulsively even if people are mean to you and, in case you do, you have already lowered yourself.

6.       Be alert to proactively sense danger or potential issues in the environment which is very essential for project management or any work activities or personal activities.

7.       If you do this right, you will feel elated and you will be ready to face all the problems that life is waiting to throw at you.

                                                             ii.      Before going to bed at night

1.       Think of all the positive aspects (as mentioned above) that have been able to accomplish during the day and pat yourself on your back.

2.       Think of all the blessings you have and feel gratified.

3.       If you do this right, you will have a very peaceful, restful sleep at night.

At first, the points above might look herculean, but trust me; your life will be so fulfilled and happy that you will engage in a constant pursuit of further betterment. It is nothing but a “snowball” effect that will you help to ensure that the lost weight is lost for ever.

Long story short:

-        Yoga is core to ensure that your body, mind and spirit are harmony with existence in order help you face any problem that life throws at you.

-        Physical exercises that you like: gym, running, walking, swimming, outdoor games etc.

The joy that I am experiencing with the right balance is priceless and it really pains to see so many with so many problems for which there are remedies all around us, within our control, but we are always in a constant pursuit of quick “tablet” solutions from doctors which in turn creates more problems.

I wish and hope that this blog will influence a couple of souls to not only get fit but also pursue true, meaningfu