One Step at a Time

It has been awhile, since I wrote for the blog. Many things are happening in my life… A breather today was welcomed with open arms .

So how are things going for me? Pretty good! Lost a bit of weight in last month. And now 15 days into Ramadan, more weight loss should happen.

So what’s my current weight? Hey, you know I hardly measure myself on the scales. So how do I know that I have lost few kilos? The fit of my clothes says it all. They are bit loose than before, my wedding ring glides easily onto my finger and I can feel the increase in my energy levels. The whole process wasn’t easy for me though.

All along, I took small steps and achieved victories at each step. And trust me, these small victories have been good motivator for my weight loss journey. Few baby steps and good habits at a time made way for healthier me.

Earlier I tried various ways to shed pounds, but I burned out too easily. After some good soul searching, I decided to take small achievable steps. Did you know that it takes about three good weeks to establish a habit? I found this when i was pushing myself religiously, sometimes once/twice a day to do my yoga exercises. Besides working out at home, I would look forward to my classes. Yoga helped me calm down and enjoy ‘me’ time, which was rare.

Before starting yoga, I was not sure how to get started. So I sat down with my list of changes and chose weight loss as the first change. I haven’t been able to do a makeover in my entire diet, but it is happening in bits and pieces.

I feel confident each day with my renewed sense of energy. I am positive that I will be able to check off all the items on my list for change soon.

Walk and Yoga

Rarely does one exercise (type) helps in weight loss or toning up. It has to be a combination of sorts.  Walk and yoga make an excellent one.  Especially, if one has the time to spare in the mornings, an hour long walk followed by a 45-minute session of yogasanas, rounded off by about 15 mins of pranayama is possibly an ideal workout.

Personally, having tried this combination, doing yoga the first thing in the morning, is not exciting for me, primarily because of the stiffness in the body.  Even loads of stretching doesn’t really help.  What I have found out is that yoga, when done after a nice, long, brisk walk is a super experience.  This is because, the walk warms up the stiff body, the blood circulation gives a good boost to the muscles to stretch well which, otherwise it doesn’t, right after a long night’s sleep. 

Start with the basic stretches before you begin your walk.  After the walk, begin with the basic yogasanas such as Paschimottasana, Trikonasana, Tadasana, going on to Bhujangasana, Dhanurasana, Shalabasana, Ardhamatsyendrasana, Gomukhasana, Pawanamuktasana and finally Shavasana.  Three repetitions of each with correct breathing motions gives you a great workout.  This should be followed by Pranayama and lastly a few minutes of meditation. 

This done, you are ready for a long, stressful day at work minus the negative effects of stress on your body.  You have already given your body the protective shield it needs to handle the stress for the day!

My Journey of the Lost Pound

I remember I had weighed myself last in mid July, when I had take my lil girl to the doctor. At that time I was a whooping 72 kgs. Seeing the scales tipping above 70 made me disappointed. I was piling up weight around my waist and doing nothing about it.

When I became a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom), I had decided that I would go for regular walks early morning. But my laziness scored over my exercise plans. So the whole of summer was spent twiddling thumbs and cursing myself on weight gain. Then came the rains, so going for walks was out of question. I tried dieting, but pounds were gained rather lost. So crash diets did not work for me. Next i tried to skip one meal, mostly dinner. I would have a glass of milk and fruits before bed, but this lasted only for week. Every two days, at night, i would curse myself loudly for being fat and not losing weight and this would irritate my hubby to no end. He would always encourage me to go for walks, do stretches, etc, and he still does continue to do so.

I saw a silver lining in the form of Yoga. I joined yoga classes run by my friend. I told her to show me all the asanas for tucking in the tummy. She has dutifully shown me easy warm up exercises and asanas for abdominal area. Going to yoga thrice a week is the only consistent work out for me. I tried getting up early in the mornings to do yoga, succeeded twice only, so i changed the timings. I do the breathing exercises mostly in the night before sleeping.

Being a mommy blogger, I am a member of DMC and I came across a post from Kay on her journey of weight loss. I bounced this idea to one of friend, who is also wanting to get in shape. So we both decided to have a work out blog.

Writing for this blog is really motivating and also since we post our efforts at exercises, I make it point to do some kind of exercise daily, either walking, pranayam, yoga. And I always start my day with my prayers (namaz – it is also another type of workout) and a warm water glass with a tsp of honey and 4 drops of lemon (an instant detox).

I have increased my walking by doing all the shopping for groceries, errands like bank work and other small stuff. Climbing three floors, thrice a day had never been so fun .

If you had read my previous post on chores for curves, I have started doing a very mundane household chore – sweeping. Its been two days. The time taken to sweep the two rooms and passage area is approx 30 minutes.A workout in this form, early in the morning is really good. Squatting and bending while sweeping gives a good stretch to my abdominal and lower body especially the waist down.

Yesterday at my yoga classes, I got a chance to weigh myself. And I was so happy to know that I had lost 2 kgs. Now that I have noticed the loss in weight, i realized that my clothes have become loose slightly. I am very upbeat about the whole workout regime and blog.

Wishing all the best to Sindhu and myself in our endeavor to keep ourselves in fit and healthy.

Stretch with Yoga

As said in earlier post, starting your exercise regime with good stretch loosens our stiff body. Won’t it be nice to combine an easy stretch for feet with breathing exercise of Yoga. Here is how you do it.

Sit with your legs stretched out in front with the toes pointing towards the sky. Place your hands with your palms facing downwards in line with your shoulders. Keep your spine erect and face relaxed. Inhale a deep breath very slowly in the position you start. Then exhale slowly by stretching your feet further and toes parallel to the ground. Bring your feet to the starting position by inhaling and exhale again in the same manner.

This stretch requires proper concentration as one has to inhale slowly over 5 seconds while bringing the feet in the upright position and exhale again over 5 seconds while stretching the feet and toes.