Wednesday 26 February 2014

Tracking food and exercise


You will always find me with a notebook and a pen or sometimes I am using my laptop/tablet...I am always used to putting down my thoughts so when I read about writing down my food and exercise it was not too much of a hassle for me. In fact journaling was one of the easier things of weight loss for me but I noticed for a lot of people it’s difficult, they find it tedious. I have had many people saying they don’t agree with tracking food this post is about why I feel tracking food & my workouts helps me
  1. You really don’t know how much you are eating or working out  till you don’t note everything :  Every time I would start a new plan the only thing I would keep in mind is the date I started my plan and the actual plan then after a month I would look forward to great result without realising in the last month there were many days when I was side tracked. Days when instead of working out for 1 hr I would get back home in half hour but in my mind I was still on track. There were days when I would have a muffin or nibble on something unhealthy without realising that I was not sticking to my plan because in my mind was still eating properly for the remaining meals or because I was still eating less than I used to but the fact was I was again not on track. All this would definitely reflect in my results and the result would never be as expected because my effort was never as planned. From the time I started writing down everything I could judge my results properly based on my actual effort, instead of being disappointed I was usually happier because I was measuring the actual effort rather than imagining one.
  2. Get to know yourself better : There are days when I don’t feel like working out or days when I have less self control or I find it easier to give up on certain things than others. When I started tracking everything down I realized I was eating more bread than I imagined (eggs and bread, soup and bread, salad and bread so I was eating healthy accompanied with lots of unhealthy bread). Even now I noticed I have no control over eating nuts and dates. I know they are healthy but I can eat the entire packet without even realizing. I noticed I prefer working out when I know what I have planned I am not used to working out without a plan, if I have no plan I find it difficult to get a workout done. Also I know there are certain times during the day when I want to eat something sweet so I will always keep something healthy and sweet around to avoid eating something unhealthy.Because of noting everything down I learned all this new stuff about myself and it has helped me with making plans which are easier for me to follow.Noting everything down helped me understand my triggers and patterns. I understood myself better.
  3. It’s like a daily report : At end of my day I can see where I went wrong or where I did better and I can use this to improve the next day.Everyday becomes a new day to do my best.
Is it really tedious? 
No it’s not. You don’t have to start with writing down calories or the detailed nutrient list. Start with just noting down everything you eat. Once you are used to just writing down your food then start with adding details. Usually most of us stick to our eating habits so after a few months you will know your calories too or if you don’t like writing things down use one of the Mobile apps (I use MyFitnessPal, CardioTrainer & most recently Fitbit). For me it definitely worth the little effort.
What do you think? Do you agree with noting your food and workouts or do you use some other means to stay on track?

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee

Thursday 20 February 2014

Getting Comfortable in the gym


I have always had to work on my confidence, when I was fat I thought my weight was the reason for low confidence then the weight went and I still had to work on it...
One of the worst things low confidence did to my weight loss process was it slowed it down a lot...first because I was scared to enter the gym...next because after I entered the gym I was stuck to the treadmill (no other machines for very long)
I used to be so scared, I was even scared of training with a personal trainer, I knew I wanted to improve I knew I needed help but I was scared, I was scared about the trainer judging me..I wanted to try different classes in the gym but I was scared of standing out and being the odd one out. I waited almost 8-9 months before I went for my first class and this was after lot arguments with T, he kept telling  if I want to improve I need to change what I was doing and if I am not willing to change then I need to stop complaining or expecting different results

Today I can confidently say I am a different person.
I am willing to try new things.

I am willing to make mistakes

I am willing to ask for help

This is a list of few things that helped me get to where I am today

1.       Why did I join the gym?
Every time I worry about what people around me will say I ask myself this question ‘Why did I join the gym?’ did I join the gym to impress strangers? Did I join the gym to make friends? Did I join the gym to waste my time?
I joined the gym because I wanted to lose weight. I joined the gym because I wanted to get fit, because I wanted to do push ups....
How does what people think about me help me get to my goal? It pulls me back...so do I want to keep wasting time trying to get fit while my worry about people judging me keeps pulling me back? Or should I make the most of my gym membership and get to my goal faster?

2.       Stop fooling yourself
I was very good at doing this. I went to the gym 5 times a week. I did the treadmill for 40-45 minutes. I stuck to the same speed, I did the same thing every day. Initially I did lose weight because it was new for me but after a few months I was not even getting tired, it was easy. I stopped losing weight. I knew from all the reading I had done that I needed to change my fitness regime. My solution was to increase 45 minutes to 1 hour. I lost a bit of weight but the weight loss stopped again. Then I thought I should reduce my already reduced food intake, I couldn’t keep that up for very long nor could I keep increasing my time...I made excuses for not changing my routine, I would say this was my limit and I could not push myself to do better or try new things. Finally I had to face the truth my 45 minutes of the treadmill was really easy for me, it was more like light exercise and my body was used to it so the results would reflect the same. If I wanted to see good results I would have to stop believing that I could not do more. I had to push myself to either use the treadmill better or change to other fitness options.

3.       Find somebody who tells you the truth
I was always complaining, I felt like I was working out 5 days a week eating right but still not seeing the result I wanted. There used to be many days when I would be upset because going 5 days a week and not seeing the results was really frustrating.  I would complain about giving my best and being unlucky. That’s when Terence very sternly told me I was not giving my best. He said sometimes I am actually wasting my time in the gym repeating the same thing. I was not unlucky but I was being stubborn by not accepting my mistakes and trying to change them

4.       99%  gym goers don ’t care about you
Do you remember what anybody else in the gym was doing yesterday? Most of us have so much more going on in life to actually shift focus to somebody else. If I see somebody trying something new I am impressed. Usually I am doing my own stuff, focusing on my exercise and my improvement. If I do notice somebody it’s usually out of admiration and this does not only depend on how fit the person is. Even somebody who is just starting sometimes impresses me because you can see the effort they are putting which is wonderful.

What do you think? I hope you found this list useful. What do you do?

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee

Sunday 16 February 2014

As promised ...my list

As promised...5 things I love about myself
(this list actually took more than one day...)

  1. I love my hair (this was the easiest)
  2. I am a happy person: Small things make me happy.I genuinely feel happy every time it rains, it snows, the sun is shining...I have no idea why but it makes me happy - Terence finds it ridiculous but every season seems to bring a big smile on my face. Just talking with the people I love makes me happy.Flowers make me happy...
  3. I don't give up easily : I am stubborn and keep getting up. After the initial fear phase (I am usually stuck in this phase for very long) but after that I don't give up easily. I might fail (and I do fail a lot) but then I will put more effort I will keep trying till I get there I don't usually stop..
  4. I am a positive person: I am good at looking at the positive aspects in situations, I believe things will work out in the end so in most situations this belief keeps me going
  5. I am easy to get along with :)
What are the five things you love about yourself?? I would love to read about your list...

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee  

Friday 14 February 2014

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day every one!!!
My sister made that collage for us (under each snap you have a few more snaps..looking at that always makes me smile)


When I was younger valentines day was about how many roses you get...I was never  popular, I was one of those kids who goes unnoticed, then at one point in life one of my closest friends (Rajmeet) started giving roses to all his close friends and for years that was the only valentine's day rose I would get and it was so precious (we still laugh about it..)
As I grew up the meaning of Valentine's day changed I realized it was more than just a rose or a gift it was about 'being with the people you love and telling them you love them' nothing else mattered. In the next few years one more thing added to my list 'Loving yourself' this is difficult, I am used to being critical about myself, I am the first to point a mistake in me. So this Valentine's Day I am going to make a list of 5 things that I love about myself..I will share it with all of you tomorrow (first with T)

Have a wonderful Day :)
Loads of Love and hugs
Tanvee


Monday 10 February 2014

Start Dreaming


As a child I had so many dreams and so many things that I wanted to do. I used to keep a journal and scribble every little dream but then life happened or you can say I grew up.I started thinking more like how the people around me thought. My dreams became less relevant. I pushed them for later in life. There was always something else more important. Even now my dreams are always at the bottom of my list, I never make it to the bottom of that list because things keep adding on top.
I am not talking about career choices here (I am happy with that) I am talking about other stuff...things like seeing new places or imagining how I would decorate my room/house or having a puppy. When I was a kid one of my most regular happy imaginations was related to me becoming thin or me fitting in normal size clothes. I would dream about wearing dresses and trust me when I say nobody ever thought it was something important or nobody ever thought it mattered not even me because there were always other things more important but every time I closed my eyes to think about it I would get a smile on my face. There were days when I did not believe it was even possible for me to be the size I am now because I believed I was broad boned. I think if I would have given up on this dream I would have never shared my story with all of you today.
These days life is a very fixed routine with no time for anything else. I am not somebody who wants to complain about her work or my life in general because everything I do has always been my choice but for the past few months I have had this constant feeling of not being satisfied. I think one of the main reasons for that is I stopped dreaming, I am constantly running towards improving which is a good thing but in the process I was losing touch with the younger me who believed everything is possible and not believing was making me a more negative person
This year my first challenge is to start dreaming again, I want to start believing my dreams matter even if my dreams don’t make sense to the rest of the world, even when I might find them ridiculous at times, however big or small my dreams are I am not going to stop because even a small possibility of them coming true makes my day much better.
I hope all of you also don’t forget your dreams in the process of living life

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee

Friday 7 February 2014

Wedding Part 5 - Church Wedding

Our next wedding ceremony 
Terence and his mom

My dad walking me down the aisle (followed by Kevin (T's brother) & Navata (my sister)



Exchanging rings





Done!!!

:) :)
Next and the final of my wedding series is the reception
(If you have missed any of the parts - part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4)
Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 
Tanvee

Monday 3 February 2014

Add a little jump

I am always looking at making my exercises a little more challenging. You can find so many ways of modifying an exercise. You can add weights, you can combine two exercises. One of the best ways to make an exercise difficult is to add a jump or a little hop wherever possible.  Adding a jump makes your exercises more dynamic which in turn burns more calories. To make it more challenging you can also use light weights with your jumps. Some of my favorite jumping exercises are:
(As usual the exercises have links for you to get an idea of the form
Do you add any jumps to any of your exercises?Which one was your favourite? I can never decide one favourite!!!!
Keep Reading I will Keep Writing  
Tanvee
I would  like to point out I'm no fitness expert these are things I picked up along the way of my weight loss journey by surfing the internet and going for fitness classes.