Tuesday, 10 July 2012

Food and exercise journal and no happily ever afters

Morning: 1 coffee without sugar and 3 boiled chick peas

BF: ½ cup puttu and 1 egg omelette and 1 cup of coffee without sugar

Lunch: one prawn and 2 pieces of potato from prawn biriyani masala (to check the taste), 3 pathiris, 2 tbsp chilly chicken gravy, ½ cup cucumber, watermelon and apple salad

 1.5 marie biscuit with 2 tsp peanut butter,4 marie biscuits, 1 coffee without sugar

dinner: 3 slices of mango, 1/3 cup noodles, 1/2 chick pea masala, 1 chapathi

 Exercise:  45 mins of leslie sansone 3 mile walk,
52 air cycling and 27 crunches

I had a mini craving today  after I had my coffee  and 4 marie biscuits. My mind was fixated on the cake slices (cut in biscotti style) that some guests had brought to our place. I reasoned with myself that I can settle for a low calorie alternative  So, I had 2 tsp peanut butter (approximately 70 calories) with 1.5 marie biscuits (30 calories).

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90% of  weight loss happens at the dining table  and 10% at the gym.  I heard this from my friend  who lost 46 kgs  in the space of a year. The trainer at her gym told her this when she started exercising. Her start weight was 116 Kgs  and her  end weight is 70 Kgs. She has also maintained the weight loss for over a year, which is in itself a achievement.

 I had lost 10 kgs in 4 years by exercising 4-5 times a week for 1.5 hours. I used to burn upto 550 calories in one session. But my food intake was not under control all the time. There would be spurts when I ate carefully and then eat unhealthy food and then eat carefully and so the cycle went on and on. It took me forever to lose 10 kgs and then within a year, I gained it all back, because I stopped exercising and my food intake was completely out of control.

During this period, I used to write a food journal once in a while when I ate healthy and felt happy and proud of myself. I would quit writing the food journal when I ate unhealthy food, so I only knew that I had gone on an eating binge without any idea of how much I ate and the frequency of my eating. My principle these days is “if you bite it, write it”, a motto I have read several times in other weight loss blogs and forums.  In the last week, I have written down everything I have fed my body and fully intend to continue doing that.  I am very glad that I kept track of my eating even when I slipped up and also analysed why I slipped up. It has made me more conscious of my food choices.  I REALLY hope to continue logging my food and tracking my weight.

Because life has a way of throwing up challenges, I am sure there will be obstacles and today I am a little more equipped to deal with the challenges.  As you grow older you realise that in life there is “no happily ever after”. Even if we think we have mastered all that it takes to lose weight, there is no guarantee that we will lose the weight or that we will maintain the weight loss. Sometimes factors that are totally out of our control can torpedo weight loss and weight loss maintenance. So, I tell myself to be aware of that possibility even as I remain optimistic and keep trying every single day to lose weight and get fit.

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