Wednesday 15 August 2012

Phipty Phipty: Update on previous post

The writer Ramachandra Guha recently said his verdict would be phiphty-phiphty (which he in turn borrowed from  the comedian Johnny Walker) about the state of Indian democracy. Phipty-Phipty is my verdict on the previous three days of weight loss effort.

 To recap, this was my plan


1) Stay COMPLETELY off fried stuff
2) No salted cashew nuts
3) Go back to my exercise regimen - now that is not going to be easy. I want to sleep in (already, even as I write this, a part of me wants to delete the doing exercise part, yeah the dreaded AeD or Anti-exercise demon has begun his rampage). I have not exercised in nearly a month now, so I will start with the 20 mins programme by Leslie Sansone.
4) When you fry, remind yourself that these things are meant for people who have spent the day in Ibadah, by fasting and praying
5) Do not eat with others at Iftaar. Set up the table and move away, so I am not tempted. If fried stuff is left over, put it out of sight immediately (act on autopilot here - do not wait for the  OeD or Overeating demon to raise her head)
6) Pray, pray, pray that all the above works and you don't mess up whatever benefits (that light ooh la la feeling in the stomach) you have gained.

**********************************************************************************


1) I managed not to eat fried stuff most of the time, barring one veg cutlet and one baked patty (though it was baked, it was very greasy, so it was as bad as being fried) yesterday.
2) 1.5 salted cashew nuts. Today I even broke a cashew nut into half because I told myself it would simply not do to make lofty proclamations here and then not follow up.
3)  On Monday, I had stomach cramps which is very unusual, so could not exercise. But I did walk 4 kms at moderate pace yesterday. Unfortunately, I was wearing bad shoes. For breakfast, I ate a cutlet, a patty and drank a sharjah shake and for lunch I had 2 tandoori roties, a katori of rice, a katori of palak and a katori of daal at a north Indian restaurant so I decided I am going to burn the calories by walking everywhere rather than take any form of transport. I was so tired at the end of day. Today, I was too lazy (how I wish I could switch of the laziness button)
4) I did not have to fry anything for iftaar. There was stuff that people sent over. So one source of temptation was thereby avoided.
5)No mindless eating at Iftaar. I left the iftaar table to people who are fasting.
6) Yes, I prayed but not so much as I should to enlist God's blessings in this endeavour.


Yesterday I was out from early morning till almost sunset. I left home without eating and so by 11 am I was famished. The bakery I went to did not have any healthy options. They do a half-decent veg sandwich (half-decent because it has a bit of mayo and it is white bread), but they did not have that:-(. I should have opted for a coffee rather than the calorie loaded sharjah shake, but I convinced myself that I needed sharjah shake since I was thirsty. Guess what? I continued to be thirsty even after drinking that calorie-laden sharjah shake. Note to self: Plain old H20 is your best bet when you are thirsty. Yesterday, in the evening, I ate more carbs than I should. Second note to self: Do not eat mindlessly while you are doing other things, grab a plate, sit down and concentrate on eating

 Today was better. I met an old friend for breakfast in the morning at a restaurant nearby. I had idlies instead of dosas and poori which were also on the menu.  For lunch, I had three small pieces of bread (it is the faux-whole wheat we get here) and an egg omlette along with 1 cup of papaya. For dinner I am going to have 1/2 cup of papaya, since I have already had an extra cup of coffee, a piece of steamed tapioca with coconut chutney and 3 small pieces of mangoes (we get mangoes here in Kerala even in late August,  Delhites  please turn green with envy:-))

All in all, it has really been phipty=phipty:-) 

Sunday 12 August 2012

Being aware is the first step and not the final one

Got periods today... so no fasting for a few days.  I remember from previous years that when others are fasting and I am not, I tend to eat much more than the people who are fasting.  Yeah, that is funny and weird. But I am was like that only ji! Awareness that I tend to overeat is of course only the first step. Boy, do I not know about being aware.

 As I tell myself all the friggin' time, knowing is not everything it is doing (or not doing, such as not over eating) that matters. A close parallel  is the super-intelligent or super-talented guy who cannot get down and get his hands dirty. Some people are very intelligent or very talented but actually accomplish very little in life because they cannot be bothered to do the hard work. As a kid, one lesson that was drilled into me was it is more important to work hard rather than be intelligent and lazy. I cannot help thinking that this lesson is applicable to the weight loss process also. It is not enough to simply know that eating less and moving more leads to weight loss, it is important to actually practice it.

The next step is this:

what can I do better today and the next couple of days? Some mini-resolutions.

1) Stay COMPLETELY off fried stuff
2) No salted cashew nuts
3) Go back to my exercise regimen - now that is not going to be easy. I want to sleep in (already, even as I write this, a part of me wants to delete the doing exercise part, yeah the dreaded AeD or Anti-exercise demon has begun his rampage). I have not exercised in nearly a month now, so I will start with the 20 mins programme by Leslie Sansone.
4) When you fry, remind yourself that these things are meant for people who have spent the day in Ibadah, by fasting and praying
5) Do not eat with others at Iftaar. Set up the table and move away, so I am not tempted. If fried stuff is left over, put it out of sight immediately (act on autopilot here - do not wait for the  OeD or Overeating demon to raise her head)
6) Pray, pray, pray that all the above works and you don't mess up whatever benefits (that light ooh la la feeling in the stomach) you have gained.

I will try to be accountable and come back and post here about my success in following the above. I can be very disciplined and I am not going to let a few days of P get in the way of my journey towards good health.

Saturday 11 August 2012

Health and fitness: An Islamic perspective


O ye who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that ye may (learn) self-restraint. (Quran 2:183)

Muslims are called up on to follow the example set by the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). There is a hadith attributed to the beloved Prophet (PBUH), which is highly relevant for weight loss and health.

"The Prophet (s) also said that one third of the stomach is for food, the second third is for water, and the last third is for air."

My previous posts have shown that I am woefully behind in following the above. I fill up my stomach to the point where I feel almost ill as I am so very full. If I can restrain myself from eating and drinking during the day, surely I can restrain myself from going on an eating spree. But somehow, old habits die hard. There have been days when I consider fasting a licence to anything and everything in front of me. Though I have (Alhamdulillah = praise be to Allah) been good 80% of the time with my eating this Ramadan, it is still a struggle. I pray for discipline in eating (and not just in eating, but since this is a weight loss blog, I will focus on that here).






Thursday 9 August 2012

4 days of being good: But how long will it last?

 I have been quite good the last four days. Barring a small piece of parippu vada and bonda, I have managed to avoid fried food the last four days. I have managed to break my fasts with lots of fruits and water. After praying Maghrib I typically have a bread sandwich. My indulgence is my sugar free coffee and 4 salted cashews.

 But before anyone thinks I have got into the groove of weight loss, let me add that on *normal days* I am fine. *Normal days* are when I fry just one item for others in my house to break the fast and when I can keep myself from not eating that. It is when the dining table is creaking under the weight of bonda, samosas, vada, spring rolls, athishaya pathiri, egg curry, appams, stuffed parathas, etc ( three days last week.... aaargh) because we have guests over that I had a VERY HARD time avoiding them.

Except for one more iftaar party later next week, we don't have any other parties planned. These are out of town guests and they said they will confirm in the beginning of next week. Guess what, a selfish part of me hopes that  we don't have to host them, as it will mean throwing my careful eating out of gear.

So I do wonder how long is the good bout going to last?



Monday 6 August 2012

much better today

feeling much better today. I did not eat any fried items. Ate watermelon, grapes, 2 dates and 2.5 chicken toasted sandwich. Just hoping not to mess up again.

Sunday 5 August 2012

ugh

have been on an eating spree. working on controlling it. Forward and onward....