Day 8: Resting muscles by walking

Rather than burn out altogether, I decided to rest a bit, not completely, but rather do brisk walking of 3Km and take it easy. My food intake was controlled (brunch of two eggs, salads, susage, few chips and orange juice, followed in the evening by dosa, potato masala and some mutton stew). Weighing in at 70.2Kg means that we’re inching away the fat… not enough, so let’s see how things go.

Day 7: Back in action

Ok, I admit, there was no Day 6, mainly because I was just too burnt out, and not because of any lame excuse like there was a standstorm in Bahrain. Today after mall walking (a common hobby in this part of the world, alongside shopping… yes shopping, not window shopping.) I felt tired, not my usual self. So back home, head to the gym and on the treadmill. Completed 4.51 km, 45 situps and 10 pushups, burnt enough calories to prepare for the weekend binge, weighing in at 70.4 kg, food for today consisted of brunch - grill. Planning to get one of those Philips Grills (what do you think?):

Day 5: Nearly down, but not out…

With a tight schedule, just managed to get 1 km out of the day. Weighing in at 70.3kg, daily consumption (bacon/eggs/mushrooms, noodles, dosa+idly). Going to step up the heat today to compensate. Don’t want to lose the plot… or the pace!

Day 4: Slow and Steady

Went easy. With brisk walking, and a last 10 minute sprint, covered 4.48km. Hope I can keep this up. Yesterday’s calories were a bit on high side (toast, rice & paneer, eggless noodles, followed by a chocolate wafer). Going to cut down on dairy products, particularly my morning Cuppa Joe from caribou coffee. Weighing in at 70.7 kg! (no questions asked!)

Day 2: Body Pain

The after effects of a good start… muscle ache. Something good is happening… no pain no gain. My objective is to increase my stamina. Beginning at 71.4 KG, there’s already been a .1 reduction. Starting with a cardio of around 3 km, immediately followed by 10 push ups and 30 sit ups. Slept like a baby from 10:30 am for 8 hours! The thing I like about exercise is that it releases dopamine… that increases the feel good factor, and maybe if I carry this on for more than 28 days, we have a habit. A good one!

Tipping Point

Unusual title for something that I’m going to take personally. Exercise. When you get overweight (I dont like using the word fat), you have a tendency to give up hope. You get lazy, and you justify, you make up stupid excuses. The problem with perfectionists is that they have this attitude; if it can’t be the best, don’t bother doing it.

But that’s human psychology, we justify that we can’t exercise 5 days in a week, so we say it just wont be worth our effort and never put on those running shoes. Our rational side says, I wont be able to lose weight if I don’t do at least 5 days a week, it has no effect… and so on… and guess what, we don’t exercise. period.

Why not re-frame, or change perspective. “Hey, if I can just exercise at least once a week.” That’s a start… and guess what, try this and you’ll start to see the difference. Changing your frame or perspective can really help. I for one have…

What’s my BHAG - its too not just lose weight but get into my old physical trim self. As you grow older, you allow yourself some freedom, freedom to be lazy. That just ended, when I found I was on the edge of diabetes (yes, that’s borderline) and if I tipped, I’d be on the other side, with medicine and injections. You only have one life, so take good care of it and enjoy within your limits.

So if you’re interested in how this experiment goes, follow me on tumblr or twitter.