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
