It has been almost a month since I started my journey towards regaining fitness and it has been a TOUGH month....physically and emotionally.
From Saturday, 12th March, I started checking what I eat. Exercise (walk) started from 13th March. However, the week of 14th March was not a great week. My sister was here; we celebrated Holi and like all Indian festivals, there was lot of good food involved. Though I tried to check things, I cannot say it was a good/successful week.
Activities
Activities started in real terms from 23rd March 2022. That is when I hired a personal trainer. The guy comes to my place everyday and I workout with him for 1 hour every morning from 6-7AM. Saturdays and Sundays are 'rest days' but I workout [without him] even on weekends. He tries to mix things. My workouts are not same on any day of the week. It involves cardio, weight training and even boxing [I love the days on which we do boxing!!]. It has been working pretty well so far as it does not get monotonous.
In addition, I try to walk 10,000 steps everyday. And from 2nd April, I started swimming. I go for a swim right after my morning workouts and this happens everyday except Monday [the pool remains closed for weekly cleaning and/or maintenance].
Diet/Food
Food plays 70-80% role and I have been trying to check what I eat. I am following a 'Low Carb - Medium Protein' diet. There is no sugar, rice, roti, bread, milk, butter etc. Animal protein (chicken) is limited to 150 grams per day but I do not have it every day. (Note: I have been posting some pics of my meals on this blog). I have also tried to reduce the quantity but I ensure that I do not starve myself as that would only be counter-productive.
I have also been trying some detox and plateau-breaking diets. These involve either [mostly] liquid diet or other diets like egg-fast. In fact, I am doing an egg-fast right now [its Day 2] and I would do it for at least 1 more day. In this diet, I have eggs [minimum 6 a day], cheese cubes [3 per day] and soda [3 per day] only. I have tried egg-fast in the past and it helps in quick weight-loss. However, it is important to do a proper transition and continue to workout or I stand a risk of regaining all the weight lost during the egg-fast. These are things that I am attempting to see what works and also to keep things interesting. We will see how it goes. Its a long journey...
Results
I have indeed lost weight but not at the rate I was expecting/hoping. In the past, similar diet but fewer activities have given better results in terms of weight-loss. However, this time around, things are very different. Since 12th March, I have lost 6 kgs but weight-loss has been quite erratic. There were days on which I did not do much [comparatively] but lost weight and then... there were days on which I almost 'moved a mountain' but I ended up gaining few hundred grams!!!
So now, I am no longer focusing on weight-loss and am concentrating on the process. If the process is right, the results would definitely come...sooner or later. At least, that is what I keep telling myself.
I do feel inch-loss and also, I feel more energetic these days. So, definitely some positive developments.
Challenges
Aches, pain, hunger are some of the challenges but they are manageable ones and do not bother me. What does bother is uncertainty regarding future. I have taken a big step and it could back-fire irrespective of what I do or do not achieve from health point of view. But when results do not show [discussed above] then the negative feelings get much stronger. I always knew that this journey would be draining....physically, emotionally and financially but I also knew that it is important and must be given top priority. Yet, the demons of negativity and uncertainty trouble me quite often. That is the challenge. I have never been in this situation and it is proving to be difficult. So difficult that on most days, I try to avoid speaking to my 'friends'.
But ya, no matter how depressed I get [it happens usually in the evenings], I do not allow that to impact the physical activities and diet. So far, so good....lets see how things [ and I] shape up in future...
Next Steps
I would continue to do what I am doing in terms of food intake as well as physical activities. My trainer has been increasing the intensity and the activity would increase in coming days. I have been trying to increase the laps in swimming but that may not be possible. Summer vacations have started in most school out here and the pool remains chaotic. So, not sure if I would be able to increase the laps and the time but I would try to increase the speed and ensure that I complete at least 20 laps everyday. I have been working out and swimming in the morning and walking in the evenings. I will try to include one more activity in the day. Would love to play squash but probably not the best idea due to the weight I am carrying. Will find something.
Wish me luck!!!
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