Thursday, March 8, 2012

Good Health: My Slimming Diet and Exercise Regimen

I was planning on starting this post with a quote on health and all that jazz but then I realized you are here reading this post not cause you want to see my writing style but are here cause you actually want to read the contents :) So I will start without much intro but a little disclaimer before that ;)

Disclaimer I am not a doctor or a nutritionist or even a dietitian. I have found out from experience what works for me and I am sharing it with you guys. You are to find out what is right for you and make your own permutations and combination to this regimen of mine depending on your target weight, your lifestyle and all :)

Before I start there are a couple of points we need to keep in mind:
1. In order to lose weight one needs to burn more calories than you take in.
2. The human body takes about only 1200 calories to do the routine functions of respiration, digestion etc.
3. Just because you are not taking 3 full meals a day does not mean that you are starving yourself or are on a crash diet. The key is to have a well balanced nutrition even if it means eating rice/chapati only once a day.
4. The human body finds it easier to breakdown proteins and use them rather than breaking down fat.
5. Your initial weight loss of about 2-3 Kgs would only be water.
6. Intake of a lot of salt results in water retention and hence increase in weight and a feeling of bloatedness and swelling.
7. If your morning business (bowel movements) are not smooth then you need to make adjustments to your diet with an increase of fibre and proteins.
8. Following is my diet when I gym in the evenings. If you are gymming in the mornings then reverse your lunch with my diiner and dinner with my lunch :)
9. DO NOTE this is only for weight loss. For maintaining your weight such a rigorous diet is not needed. Just adequate exercise to burn extra calories :)

MY DIETARY ROUTINE
Breakfast (09:00 am)
1. One boiled egg white
2. A full bowl of oats cooked in milk (no water) and a little sugar
3. One Orange/Mosambi

I try to have a wholesome breakfast. The egg white provides proteins, the oats provide carbs and fibre and the fruit provides essential salts and vitamin C. I have my oats with milk for the required calcium and sugar for the required energy to get my day started.
  
Mid-Morning Snack (11:00 am)
1. A cup of green tea (I drink Organic India's Tulsi Green Tea)
2. One Marie biscuit

This is necessary cause if you don't anything now then you would surely end up eating something unhealthy for lunch.
 

Lunch (01:30 pm)
1. A salad consisting of sprouts, onion and tomato
OR
A salad consisting of fresh veggies like tomato, cucumber, capsicum, carrots, boiled mushrooms
OR
Muskmelon/Watermelon/Papaya

I generally do not have boiled vegetables in my salad cause the body spends more energy (and hence burning down fat + proteins) in digesting fresh veggies rather than boiled vegetables.
 
Early Evening Snack (4:00 pm)
1. One slice of cheese between two slices of whole wheat/grain bread
2. A cup of sweet, boiled tea

The cheese slice here is required for its calcium plus by now your body would start craving "salt". If you haven't noticed, this is the first intake of salt in the day.
I require the boiled tea here cause we generally have our meetings at 4:00 pm and I need something to keep me awake and concentrated :P You can obviously swap it for coffee.

Post Gym (7:30 pm)
1. A glass of Nestle Iced Tea (This is my cheat drink and I NEED it. You can swap it something healthy like lemonade) 

Dinner (8:30 pm)
1. One chapatti and an easily digestible vegetable like "brinjal" (baingan) or "bottle gourd" (louki)
OR
Rice and daal with a similar vegetable curry.
2. A piece of chicken or fish (NO MUTTON)

Ideally your dinner should be very light consisting of clear soup and salads but since I gym in the evenings and the "pati" throws a tantrum if I do not eat at least one meal a day so I have to have a chapati and subzee.
If you are exercising then you need a good supply of proteins. For vegetarians soya and paneer would provide adequate proteins

Late Night Snack (11:00 pm)
1. One tub of "fat free" flavored yoghurt

Since the "pati" likes to have his dinner really late and when he eats I give him company, I always end up getting tempted. So my snack of choice is a tub of flavored yoghurt. If you can control that urge then well and good and if you wish you could have a fruit then as well :)

Before I go off to bed, fifteen minutes before, I drink a cup of Green Tea again :)   


MY GYM ROUTINE (Evenings)
1. Start with some warm up and stretching exercises
2. I run (not walk, not jog) but RUN on the treadmill for a kilometer.
3. Then I do some twists (50 actually) for the tummy region.
4. I then work on the elliptical for half a kilometer
5. I then do a bit of weights for my arms, shoulder and back. (Ask a professional. I consult my dad)

MY YOGA ROUTINE (Mornings)
1. 8 suryanamaskars
2. 15 bhujangasanas

In addition to the gymming and the yoga, I also climb a lot of stairs. I stay on the 5th floor, so do about a minimum of 200 steps (2 rounds) plus my cube is on the third floor so do about 150 steps (2 rounds) i.e. a total of 350 steps minimum in a day.

Let me again remind you guys that this works for me, you will need to make your own adjustments and if needed get a dietitian's view as well! Also do note that I am not claiming to know the best :P

I know this works for me in a healthy way cause I have lost 5 Kgs in 2 weeks, my skin is glowing, I do not feel weak, I get a very good night's sleep, my morning business is smooth as ever and my dry hair is actually shining (but then that could be TBS Rainforest Shampoo and conditioner as well :P) :)