Week 7

So last week didn't go at all as I wanted it to be.

I visited an ortho and he advised me to take rest from jogging for a few days and also prescribed some calcium and vitamins tablets.

On Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and a little bit of fever but that didn't bother me much and the day continued as it usually does except the fact that I skipped going to gym because I wasn't feeling energetic.

Friday again I woke up with fever and even worse throat infection and running nose. I took the day off from office and thought of staying back at home all day long but on the same day one of my friend was blessed with a baby girl and my wife really wanted us to go and see the baby so I went out to the maternity home with her (but saw the baby from quite a distance). On the way back we ate at Pizza Hut (damn those calories) and after controlling myself a lot I still ended up eating near to 800 calories in lunch itself (but I compensated for that by having a light dinner).

Saturday/Sunday/Monday/Tuesday - All four days I was down with fever, cough and cold and was prescribed to have antibiotics for 5 days by a doctor. So for obvious reasons I had null exercise and a very dull appetite too.

All in all last week was pretty much spent at home with no exercise at all.

Oh well, there has been a change in the upper cap of the calories I'm allowed to consume to reduce weight. It so happened that while I was entering my weight in myfitnesspal (the app that I use to keep track of my calories and weight) it prompted saying that I've lost more than 5 Kgs so far and I should modify my calorie intake limits. Earlier I was not allowed to consume anything more than 1810 cal, this count has now come down to 1730 cal.

One thing that I've noticed is that my weight loss is not attributed to the exercise I was doing but it was more linked to the amount of calories I was taking. So in last 1 week despite not going to gym I've lost 1.6 Kgs (mostly because of bad appetite)

Here is the updated chart.

Week 6

This has not been an Ideal week for exercising. I went to gym only for 2 days in last 7 days but I'm making sure that I do not exceed my calorie limits in any way.

Weather in Bangalore is changing and it's raining almost every day these days. Over the weekend I was little under the weather plus I also have dust allergy which aggravated over the past few day plus I have a bad sore throat. All these things put together made me reconsider my Idea of hitting the gym on Monday.
Yesterday I had to skip gym because (i.e. Tuesday) we had a team outing and went to a resort. Although with all the activities I did (like playing volleyball, cricket etc) I'm certain that I would have burnt around 100 calories but then that's not enough.

In last one week I've also noticed a lot of pain in my left ankle. It usually pains a lot when I come in motion after laying down for a while, If I keep walking or running then there is no pain. I've a doctor appointment today and will probably post about it my next blog.

One good thing that happened in last one week was that I was able to notice change in the clothes i wear. Now I can wear my belt one notch tighter than I use to wear it earlier :)

I've almost lost more than 4 kgs in 6 weeks, this achievement is probably making me weak instead of making me strong. I'm getting urges to eat what I like to eat cuz I feel that now I'm in control of my weight already :) . So, in such situations what I do is that I open up the fridge and eat raw tomatoes (I like tomatoes), this gives me enough roughage without any calories.

In the name of junk food last week I had

• popcorn (around 1 oz)
• Oreo biscuits (3 pcs)
• Mix veg frankie
• Half chocolate Donut and half walnut brownie.

So my current weight is 89.6 and here is how my graph looks like

week 5

Last week was a difficult one to deal with. I had urges to eat junk food from time to time and I even ate some :(

Our cook didn't show up on two days this week and due to this we were forced to order food. In the last one week in the name of junk food I've had Chinese noodles, Masala Dosa, couple of Kitkats and choco chip cookies/Oreos.

My wife is worried that I'm starving myself a lot and it may affect my health :). So being a good wife that she is she makes me have a at least a couple of Almonds and Pistachios every day.

I read couple of articles on weight loss a week before and most of them mentioned that HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is one the fastest way to loose weight. I decided to try that out and here  is what I did.

I setup my treadmill session for 25 mins and  then:
- Walk at 6 km/hr for first 3 mins to warm up
- Then have 6 sessions of 3 mins each wherein I run at 10 km/hr for first 90 seconds and then walk for 6 km/hr for next 90 seconds.
- In the end I again walk for 4 more mins to cool off.

In this whole process I burn approximately 170 kcal. Apart from this I now spend 10 mins on elliptical trainer which helps me burn additional 70 kcal. So all in all I've made my target to burn a total of 240 kcal/day in gym.


My last week's average calorie intake was around 1495 kcal/day and my current weight is 90.8 kg (phew! long way to go)

First 30 days...

Well since I'm writing this blog very late I'd like to share my first 30 days of my weight loss regime

First Off, What do I have -

• I have a smartphone like everybody else does. I've installed an app called "myfitnesspal" in my phone. This app helps me keep track of the amount of calories I've been taking (I obviously have to inject that data manually every time I eat something). This app also creates a desired calorie intake target for each day depending on the goal you set. Like for me I want to reduce 14 Kgs in 7 months  which is like 500 gm/week. To do this app has set a goal of 1800 kcal for me.
• I also have access to gym. I reach office at 8 every morning and then hit the gym for an hour (although I only exercise for 30 mins).
• I also have a smartwatch with Misfit app installed on it. This app just makes use of pedometer reading and assign points on the basis of that. There is no clear points to calories conversion calculator but the increase in number of points every time I do some activity does make me feel good and motivated. 600 points in the app tells me that I'm slightly active, 1000 points means that I'm moderately active and 1500 means that I'm highly active.
• I've set a target of 600 points in my smartwatch which means that everyday I need to cross 600 points (no that it happens everyday in real). Whenever I do I get a trophy for a day, It feels good to see that trophy :)
• I work from home every Wednesday so that means no Gym on Wednesday that means I exercise only 4 days a week that means need to control more on my diet.

So this what I've been doing in last 30 days.

• Wake up 6:30 in the morning, make sure to reach office by 8
• Hit Gym by 8:10, Start your workout for 30 mins
• In first 20-25 mins just walk/jog on treadmill
• Next 5 mins exercise on elliptical trainer or cross trainer
• Head back to office by 9
• Work, have lunch, go for a kilometer long walk, work again, leave for home by 4:30
• Play with my son for an hour (well, depending on how tired I am it does not happen everyday)
• Have dinner by 8:30
• Work or watch TV depending on what the priority is
• Go to sleep by 11:30 to make sure that I get at least 7 hrs of sleep.

With an average goal of eating 1800 kcal/day (according to myfitnesspal app) what has been my average for last 4 weeks.

Week 1: 1624 kcal/day with second day exceeding kcal  more than the limit.

Week 2: 1509 kcal/day

Week 3: 1628 kcal/day with one day exceeding 120 kcal more than the limit

Week 4: 1590 kcal/day

This app also allows you to add the amount of calories you burn during your workout. If you are also using the same or any other similar app always make sure that you are conservative about it amount of calories you would have burned during your workout. Sometime these apps integrate with phone's pedometer and account for additional calories you burn while walking. 

What has been my weighing scale showing for the last 4 weeks:

Week 1: 94 kg

Week 2: 93.6 kg

Week 3: 92.5 kg

Week 4: 91.5 kg

About me and what I've done till now...

I'm not very good in writing paragraphs but being an engineer and having worked in IT in industry for near about 10 years I can probably try to write down "About Me" section in bullet points :)

• I'm a non-smoking, alcohol-hating, vegetarian Punjabi. Like my friends who call me a fake Punjabi most of you may not be able to relate these 3 terms with a Punjabi.
• I'm married, in my early 30s and have a 3 year old son.
• I work in an IT company or lets say that I just sit on my chair all day long and I'm lazy to an extent that I avoid lifting my hand to use computer mouse as much as possible :)
• I'm 5 feet 9 inches tall and use to weigh close to 95 Kg 30 days back.

I'm writing this blog to register all my activities/experience/urges while I'm desperately trying to loose weight so that people like me who live a sedentary lifestyle can also relate to it and don't do the mistakes I've been doing.

Before I start on what I'm doing to reduce weight I want to tell you why I'm trying to loose weight -

• I have very high cholesterol (with total cholesterol in the range of 250 to 300). I obviously want to reduce that and wish to live a healthier lifestyle (I hope Insurance companies are not reading this blog)
• We have a family wedding coming this November end and I -
• Don't want to look fat
• Don't want to buy new clothes and want to get into the same suit which I wore at myi wedding reception
• One day I was playing football with my son and the ball went under the bed. I asked my son where is the ball, little guy searched and searched and finally pointed to my paunch and said it's here. :(
• Guy who serves lunch in our company one day asked my colleagues "That FAT guy didn't come today?". I mean now people who I don't even know have started recognizing/calling me as a fat guy. What worse can happen :)
• My Wife and parents are pretty tensed about me gaining weight. My mother has started telling me all sorts of ways to reduce weight like drinking warm water before sleeping in the night, after waking up in the morning. 
• I have tendency to gain weight very rapidly. In  late 2013 I had dengue and I was 88 Kg then. By the time I recovered from the ailment I was 80 Kg. From then I've gained almost 15 Kg in year and a half which is close to 1 Kg/month (That's bad, real bad)