Changing my lifestyle: Step by step

If you read a lot of weight loss blogs these days like I do, it will not be long before you come across a word - lifestyle.  These days saying you are on a lifestyle change rather than a diet is almost de rigueur in the weight loss community.  I like this new approach towards weight loss, health and fitness which focuses on sustainable and life long change. It is unhealthy lifestyle which got me here in the first place, so let me work  towards changing my lifestyle.


In my book a lifestyle change begins with education. For the longest time, I thought only fried food and sweets were to be avoided and you were on the path towards weight loss. All purpose flour  (maida) was my best friend.  At tea time I ate buns made of maida. Even though it contained sugar, I categorized it as a bread, because the predominant content was flour.  In a similar vein, I would rationalize cinnamon swirls, puff /patties, croissants and parottas. Any Keralite worth her salt knows Kerala's fascination with  flaky and soft Parotta, a bread made of maida to which oil/ghee is added at every stage of cooking.  Combined with beef fry, it is almost a state dish. I loved  parottas (still do), though thankfully I am not a big fan of beef. In the last couple of years, there has been a concerted campaign against parotta in the media and I recently read about an anti-parotta association  (a quick aside - what is a Keralite without a union?). Many restaurants here now offer atta parotta. I confess that I have not been successful in eliminating maida completely, I eat pasta for lunch at least once a week though I have managed to drastically reduce the quantity. Whole wheat pasta available here is not exactly budget friendly. 


 Another BFF was refined white sugar. I don't think anyone made or drank  sugar laden chai like I did. It was a whole ritual for me and all my friends were offered  forced to drink it. :-)  I once offered chai to a Slovenian friend who had never heard of chai before (this was before Starbucks made chai-tea famous abroad). After sipping it, her first question to me was "Is it a dessert?"!!!  Around two years back, I switched to coffee and also reduced the amount of sugar (but I used to add around a tsp of sugar), as I could not bear to drink chai with less sugar. Last year, I came across this article in the NYT, which gave me pause. I did not quit cold turkey but over six months I brought down the sugar intake in my coffee and in November last year stopped adding sugar to my coffee. However, I  continued to eat cakes, cookies and other sweets without keeping an eye on the amount and frequency, prompting a friend's father  to comment (and rightly so) that my sugar-less coffee drinking was not going to give me any health benefits as long as I ate other sugar-laden stuff. I was baking cookies until two weeks back on a regular basis and I would invariably eat at least two-three a week. Definitely not a good idea if you have weight loss goals. But will I be able to give up sweets completely? My philosophy as I mentioned before is that one should not have to give up completely, (maybe I will find natural alternatives to refined white sugar ). Of course, different rules apply if you have a health condition.


Another aspect of education is not external but internal, as in listening to your body and your mind. Long ago, I learnt this acronym H*A*L*T.  HALT stands for Hungy*Angry*Lonely*Tired. Any of these feelings on their own or in combination can trigger over eating and it definitely did in my case. I also watch out my eating patterns. I am an all-or-nothing eater. It is difficult for me to control eating at 1 piece. I have to finish the damn packet. When unhealthy food is near my vicinity, I find it HARD to resist. I once made puri-baaji for my uncle and family and had a chapathi or two instead of puri -baaji. After serving them, I removed myself from the dining room, so I would not be tempted to have a carb and fat rich second dinner. I have also realized that if I do not eat at the right time, my body goes overboard and it acts like Kumbhakarnan/Kumbhakarna!


My food and exercise journal:


I went to bed feeling hungry and got up feeling hungry and had to eat something in the morning before exercise. So ate a whole pomegranate after my coffee.

Morning: 1 cup of coffee without sugar and 1 pomegranate


Breakfast: 1 kaipathiri dunked in 1 tbsp coconut milk and 2 katoris poha and 1 cup of coffee w/o sugar

Lunch:  1/2 cucumber, 10 grapes, ½ apple,  1 medium carrot
4 tbsp matta rice, ¾ cup sambhar, 1 tbsp cherupayar thoran,  1 tsp potato ularthi
A tiny piece of chicken – to see if it was well cooked and little gravy


1 cup of coffee w/o sugar and 3 marie biscuits


dinner: 4 bite sized pieces of chicken, 1 tbsp chilli chicken gravy, 1 chapathi, 1 pathiri, stir fried cabbage, carrot, capsicum and onion.
a handful of grapes


Exercise:
45 mins of Leslie sansone, 47 air cycling, 20 crunches. I also walked 3.5 kilometers today shopping. My legs are ready to give away!


I was hoping to eat an early dinner. But dang, we had  unexpected guests and by the time I served them, they ate and left, I was very hungry. In the evening, I made vadas but I am so proud I did not have uzhunnu vada or parippu vada. I restricted my pathiri intake to just 1. I would not have had the chicken, gravy or the pathiri if I was not hungry. But my stomach feels light, so hopefully not much damage (?)