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Been almost a month, and the present situation is as follows:
Weight: 70kgs
Activity level: Gym regularly for 45mins of which there is just 20 minutes of cardio and then followed by stretches and then weights.
Food: Here comes the bad/ horrible part.
Yesterday I had an amazing unlimited kebabs buffet dinner. (Yes, I just had to relive the greatness of that buffet). So now thats done, I have been having almost every week day meal at home, with as little oil as possible and crackers and cereal snacks in between. Mostly vegetarian too, except the weekends where it is time to make up for the whole week!
Next week plan is to keep put with the gym schedule, and get in some badminton time too if permissible in the evenings. And I hope to make my next update only when th scales read 68 kgs …. whenever that is :(
I just read WSW’s post and I am thinking, am I taking this weighing scale bit a tad too much? I know for one, atleast 3 people have told me that I have lost weight and am looking better. But I want to look fab!
I haven’t visited this place for let-us-see, forever?
Can I let the excuses flow? Lots of shuttling between Mumbai-Bangalore at the end of April and early May resulted in missing of gym classes. But we trekked, rappelled and had a night treasure hunt at our outbound at Garud machi which was physically exhausting due to the dry, merciless heat. I came back hopped on the scales hoping to have lost at least a couple of kilos to find it in the exact same place since last November.
Then the downhill spiral began. Random eating, many chocolate coffees later I found out the dance aerobics class I regularly attended was going to shut down because one of the instructors quit and they had a total mismanagement between their different branches.
As a result I quickly put on a kilo. During aerobics even if the scale dint budge I knew I had a flat tummy due to the insane amount of abs I did. The abs are on their way to become convex once again.
My friend and I checked another fitness centre for their aerobics but the steps were boring and we had to really go out of our way to get there.
So I have returned to the office gym. Monday am going to negotiate for a personal trainer and hit the cardio-strength training once again. In fact I got on the treadmill yesterday and after 3 minutes of running felt my lungs-heart was on fire. I am so unfit right now.
But, hell, am going to make myself like the mind numbing experience of watching self walk/run on the treadmill and elliptical. I am gonna pick up the weights once again (about which I am kicked, I love strength training)
And more importantly I ll try my best to avoid over-indulgence. And follow devi Rujuta Divekar’s golden mantra of 4:
1.Never wake upto tea/coffee. (Doing)
2.Eat every 2 hours.(Trying to do)
3.Eat more when you are more active and less when you are less active. (Err.Duh!!)
4.Finish your last meal at least 2 hours prior to sleeping.(Trying to do)
So hopefully a new start.
Need inspiration? Here’s a lady who lost 65 pounds and kept them off for 3years and counting.
In keeping with the spirit of my initially set goals (point 5) and patting myself on the back, I bought a cycle.
Ladies and gentlemen, above we see a BSA Hercules Ryders ACT 105. A medium range Indian bike which made me poorer by Rs 7.6K. It has got 7 gears on the back and 3 in the front — giving a total of 21 combinations, although few of them shouldn’t be used. More details about how I made the purchase here.
The main goal of this purchase is cross-training on Sundays — running is still the first priority. But, I do plan to commute few days to office as well.
For a greener tomorrow, ONWARD!
I know a lot of people put their success by the dammed weight scale. A downward number has me jumping for joy. A gain will remind me to not consume alcohol at all. But this post isnt abt the scale moving down. This post is me listing all my victories, all the non scale ones.
I got a trainer 4 weeks ago. It was expensive but so worth it. Before last Thursday’s workout, she said lets take your measurements again. This is the real stuff, with the callipers and the pinching. Guess where I lost the most inches.. In my biceps.. almost 6 inches. Another month, I would be able to wear sleeveless. My BMI went down 2.6% and my Lean Body Mass went up by 2 lbs. Funny thing is, I didnt lose a single pound on the scale.I lost 1-2 inches almost everywhere except my calves which became bigger.
I can now climb the Hell Hill near my house and not die huffing and puffing. I remember almost dying when I first started running.
I can now finish a yoga class without going into the child’s pose(unless told to by the instructor). When I first started yoga, I had to take a breather and do the childs pose a lot more to take breaks
I can actually do a spinning class without feeling like I am going to vomit. Spinning is high intensity. WhenI first started, when the instructors shouts, Turn to the right(the resistance/load on the bike), I wouldnt because I was already struggling to cycle with the load I had on.Now, I turn the knob and pedal harder.
I signed up for a 8 week Baby Bootcamp running clinic. I would have NEVER done this. Knowing that I would be one of the biggest there, Knowing that I would be one of the unfittest there, I would have never signed up for it(including the other classes as well) My self-esteem has gone up almost 200%. My first thought when I was unfit, people would laugh at a fat mom trying to run. Not now. My first thought, if I can run non-stop for 3 miles, I can freaking do anything.
I was in a bad,bad car accident 2 years ago. Since then, I have had back issues. In fact, there was 2 episodes in June last year, where my back gave out completely.I walked hunchbacked for almost a week . My GP’s advise was to always work-out and stretch. Resting or lying completely still is apparently really bad for your back. I have noticed that on the days, where I dont workout, my back is stiff. So the workouts has strengthened my core and my back muscles. I am normally pain -free most days.
The pride I take in dressing up. I use make-up. I put on pretty jewellery. This is such a superficial thing but I want to include it in my NSV. When I was a size 20, my wadrobe consisted of a)Black and b)Stretchy Pants. Not anymore, I bought a beautiful silk Micheal Kors top, a light purple cotton skirt, a green shirt. Ohh this is me with my 10 yr on Sat. I brought her, her 2 friends and Avasha to Night at The Museum.
Notice matching Necklace and Earrings :)
Retrospection
After 5 weeks’ worth of training for the Sunfeast 10K, I fell short of my sub-50 min target. My main mistake was to not get a timing-chip, as the timing-chip folks were let out on the track before the rest. I got very less stretches in the race where I could maintain a constant pace, as evidenced by the following chart.
Figure 1: Sunfeast 10K, Pace vs Distance
Ever since I started training for my first half-marathon in August of 2008, the full marathon had always been in my mind. Of course, when I ran my first half-marathon, I realized that it wasn’t that easy.
At the end of last year, when I was just recovering from 2 weeks’ worth of fever, I decided that I will do the full distance in 2009. And now that the Sunfeast 10K is over, it’s the ideal time to start training.
I have chosen Hal Higdon’s Novice 1 plan for training. But as the marathon which I’m planning to run is sooner than the duration of the plan, I have skipped 3 weeks and started from week 4.
Training goals (other than covering the distances in the plan):
- Do strength training — I have neglected this quite a bit.
- Reduce the amount of crap which I eat.
- Drop a few kilos to run better.
Race goals:
- As this is my first, the goal is just to finish. It’s an automatic PB.
And, oh yeah, I plan to run the Kaveri Trail Marathon organized by RFL and the Bangalore Hash on September 13th. Hopefully it will be a good way to celebrate one year of running.
Its really been a while since I last posted. To be honest, there was nothing new to write but now I have and its not good :(
All of last week was gym less and this week is half over and still gym less. I have the excuses, really do. Two houses in different stages of transactions. Time off to watch kids. Time-off to catch up with friends ;) Laziness, I would say yes but only its so not true. I didnt really do anything that lazy people enjoy like simply chill, read, eat, etc.
Truth is I am slipping. Exercise for me has always been something I have to do because I must, not because I enjoy it. Not for me the great feeling of exhilaration after every workout. I am more like “gosh, am I late for something.” Hence I need that extra dose of discipline to stay on track and once the slide begins for any whatsoever reason, its almost over. Like an alcoholic. And then I have to start all over again.
So bring on the encouragement everyone. That why we have this forum. Scare the daylights out of me. Tell me how ugly and horrible I will look in summer and will have to wear swim suits with a skirt around it. Tell me how there is a heart , stroke, cholesterol issue round the corner waiting to greet me. Actually stick to the looks more because to be honest, I only care about that. Very vain…tch tch.
Before signing off, Rohit and Sunita…both of you rock. Congratulations on both your runs. If someone were to put money in FF, you both will be the models for advertising.
Congratulations to everyone else who is being good with diet and exercise.
Before I bore you with the details, I failed to achieve my sub-50 min target. My time was 50:36. Personal best nonetheless.
On to the race report.
The Open 10K race was scheduled to start at 8:10 AM at Kanteerava Stadium. There were two holding areas, one for participants with the timing chip and one for the ones without. The people with the timing chips were to be let out on the circuit before the ones without. Although I wanted to get a timing chip for myself, I couldn’t and I ended up in the general junta holding area.
When we reached the holding area, the elite mens’ race was just finishing and elite women were warming up. The elite men’s finishers at that time were mostly laggards — in fact I saw one guy vomit and then dry-heave in the last 400m. The elite women’s race was flagged off precisely at 8:00 AM. They covered the first 400 m in 1:20 and proceeded out for rest of the race (there was one elite woman who actually pulled out in the first 300m itself!).
Once the elite women were off the track, the Open 10K participants with the timing chips were allowed to enter the track and shortly the Open 10K was flagged off. The holding areas were big, but the gate to enter the track was pretty small and was causing a lot of clogging. But given that this was India, people rose to the occassion and started jumping the stadium fence directly onto the track — without going through the gate. The organizers first resorted to polite requests when all that went unheeded, the police started using their lathis — that seemed to work, I wonder why? I, being the civilized gentleman, chose to go through the gate.
By the time I crossed the start line, it was already 10 minutes since the race had begun. I started my Garmin.
Due to the rains yesterday, the weather was really good. The sun was behind the clouds and a nice breeze was blowing. I managed to keep my 5:00/KM target pace for the first 3 KM. At the 4 KM mark, the road became narrow and there were a lot of walkers, stoppers, and slow runners; due to which I had to weave in and out quite a bit. Another thing which I noticed near the 4 KM mark, was there were a lot of people who resorted to taking short cuts — part of the stretch from the 4 KM to 7 KM was out-and-back — shame on them!
The heavy crowd continued to the 6 KM mark, following which there was a slightly uphill stretch. All of that slowed me down. The uphill stretch went till 7 KM mark, after which it was familiar territory — Cubbon Park. At the 9 KM mark, I was 30 s off pace. I wanted to increase my speed, but however hard I tried there were enough slow-movers ahead of me. In fact, towards the end, I couldn’t even cut loose and manage a sprint.
At the end my Garmin told me that I finished the race in 50:36. More than a minute better than my previous personal best (which was on the treadmill by the way), but still short of my sub-50 min target time.
All said and done an overall good and well organized race. The route was well marked, there were enough water stops (although I didn’t use any), and everything was on time. I enjoyed the race and hopefully next time I will do much better.
Race Goals:
- Finish the distance — PASS
- Get a personal best — PASS
- Finish Sub-50 min — FAIL
- Finish Sub-48 min — FAIL
- Win the Open 10k — FAIL
The race is upon us. Two days from now, on Sunday, I will be running the Sunfeast 10K. The race start is at 8:10 AM. My bib has been collected and tomorrow is going to be a fun-filled rest day, with lots of carb-loading (read beer and pasta). Today was the last day of the training plan which I had been following for the past one month. I tapered off with an easy 5K run done at a 6:00/KM pace, followed by 3 x 100m sprints.
These are my goals for the race, in increasing order of difficulty:
- Finish the distance (easy … peezy).
- Get a personal best (Current PB: 51:47)
- Finish Sub-50 min (that’s what all the training was for)
- Finish Sub-48 min (only once have I gone below 24 mins for a 5k)
- Win the Open 10k (assuming lightning strikes everyone else)
ONWARD!
An update on my side is that I have been running a few times a week for a month now and my legs feel fine. I take care not to over do it and run about 3-4 miles 2-3 times a week. Other days I do one hour of dance aerobics and weights. Another thing I started doing is avoiding snacks as much as possible(hey, a girl’s gotta eat!) and my weight has reduced a tad bit, and I am happy.
Everything is hunky-dory on weekdays. I workout, I eat right but it is the weekends that throw the spanner in the works. No workout, eat at will! So while the week is dedicated to toning and losing a little, I put everything back on on weekends. Does that happen to all of you?
Hey guys!
It’s been a while since I have posted here and for good reason.
After my 7-day challenge, I decided to take a break from the whole cannot-eat-carbs thing.
Which brings me back to the reason I haven’t posted as yet.
I had a work training conference, a trip to the Grampians and many, many nights of working late and partying late which totally made my eating and exercising lifestyle go in the opposite direction.
Oh the shame…. :P
On one hand, I wasn’t going to beat myself up over the lack of discipline over that last month but on the other and I knew that it couldn’t last forever until everything I had worked so hard for would just be washed away.
Funny thing was, I still managed to lose a kilo over that time. Must have been for all the mountain-climbing and hiking and horse riding I did on my Girlie Road Trip. Not complaining a bit.
So, what have I done to get back on track?
Taken up Pilates. My gym now has pilates classes every Monday evening which bring it to the grand total of 2 a week (woohoo) and at a time I can actually make. So I have been going since it has started and I gotta say, it’s really pushing me to my limits.
I also added on another gym class to my normal spin class on Wednesdays. Which means I do 45 minutes of spin and then straight after 60 minutes of Body Step.
All this exercise means that I am now going to the gym 4 times a week. My eating habits are back on track and I am ready to lose the kilos once again.
I was thinking back and actually I am the same weight as I was at this point last year. Still about 5 kilos heavier than when I got married 6 months previously, but just over 4 kilos lighter than I was in December.
So not too bad.
Current weight: 55.7kg
Goal Weight: 51kg (ok I’ll be happy with 52kg as well :P)
