Week 9 - down 2.2 lbs + hikes + running

Microsoft had lay-offs (2 of my good friends lost their jobs). My team and I had some concerns. Not sure if it is because of that or because we are in a crucial planning phase that I was very busy at work. It was a super-productive week at work. So, this delayed update to the blog. Apologies to those who tuned in and saw no new updates.

Anyway, this week, my carb-protein ratio crept up to 0.95. I also moved my day of rest from Tuesday to Sunday. Despite this, I lost 2.2 lbs. I am 164.2 lbs now (down 22.2 lbs from the start of the program and down about 30 lbs from my personal lifetime high). My clothes are starting to become too loose to wear and I need new holes in my belt. Yay! I am very confident that I will reach my initial goal of 160 lbs. I am planning to revise the goal down to 150 lbs at least (may be even 145 lbs).

I can now eat nearly everything but white rice, plain wheat flour (whole wheat is fine), sugar (sugar from fruits are ok), starchy vegetables like potato. The choices are so many now, that I have to spend a lot more time planning my meals. While, a roti (Indian Flat bread) with dal (yellow lentil soup) seems tempting every meal, I avoid having it more than twice a week. I still low Kefir and Greek Yogurt and eat them several times a day.

I met my psychologist last week and was concerned if I have some kind of attention deficit disorder as I tend not to complete things I start. After he looked at my to-do list for a week and after questioning me, he determined that I have no such problem - it's just that I dwell on the 5% that I have not completed and forget the 95% I have completed. Also, we determined that I am unsuccessful at completing office work over the weekends - so I am just going to quit planning to get office work done over the weekends. This change in perspective has helped me immensely and I feel much better about the things I am getting done (and that's help me get more things done).

I started running (pretty much for the first time in my life) on Monday. I ran for a couple of minutes and rested for a couple of minutes and did this about 5 times (so 10 minutes of total running). I was so excited. I never thought that I would be running. On Wednesday, I ran for 17 minutes and my feet was hurting. I got my feet checked by a podiatrist and he said that I am quite flat footed and he believes that this could be the reason that I never got into running in my life. I am getting custom fit orthotics and new shoes and he believes that I should be able to start running after that. So, start next week, I am hoping that can start running which is more fun (at least for now) than other cardio exercises. The rowing machine is still killing me - I can't do more than 15 minutes (at 30 strokes per minute) without feeling exhausted.

In the weekend, I went for a hike in Cougar Mountain (very near our house) with my friend Bruce Payette (of Powershell fame and a new 20-20 member). We went to Coal Creek Falls and then walked on the Shy Bear trail back to Red Town Trail-head). I will post the pictures next time around. It was about 4.5 miles round-trip.

This week-end I played racquetball with my cousin Subbu - it was good exercise and good fun.

A lot of friends have started asking me for practical tips on losing weight and I have been providing those on a 1-on-1 basis (not that I am an expert). This week, let's talk about what things Indian Vegetarians can do for better health

1. Switch to brown-rice (Tamarind rice turns out very well with brown rice and could be a good starting point into brown-rice - yes, it does taste quite different than white rice).
2. Eat more dal and vegetables than rice.
3. Use only whole wheat flour with flax seed flour for chappatis
4. Replace flavored yogurt with plain yogurt and fruits.
5. Replace fruit juice with fruits
6. Traditionally, we eat 3 meals a day - split that into 5 or 6 meals in a day. Ensure that you have a mini meal at 4-5pm to avoid overeating at dinner
7. Eat vegetables of all colors in a week. Purple cabbage tastes as good as green cabbage, BTW.
8. Avoid potatoes, peas and other super starchy vegetables.
9. Stop adding sugar to coffee (if you must have coffee) (Chai isn't much better).
10. Start tracking your calories (see previous posts for recommendations)
11. For Indian women especially, don't try to lose weight by diet alone. Start a diet only if you can exercise. When you lose weight on a diet alone, you lose muscle mass and your body becomes inefficient at burning calories. Brisk walking is exercise enough.
12. Substitute yogurt with Greek Yogurt and buttermilk with Kefir.
13. Switch to non-fat milk or low fat milk instead of higher fat milk
14. Eat a desi salad before the meal (desi salad dressing is typically just lime, salt and pepper) (some tadka (oil with spluttered mustard seeds) with less oil are ok if sparingly used).
15. Last but not the least, try to make your social gathering about enjoying people's company than enjoying high-fat foods. You can cook a lot of food and lot of varieties, just don't offer everything like paneer butter masala (Indian cottage cheese cooked in butter sauce).
16. Add Nutrela (soy chunks) into meals.
17. If you have desi channels like Zee or Sun or Surya... and watch it for 2 hours a day, it's a good idea to add a treadmill to that scenery.
18. Yoga, suryanamaskaram are just really great - include them in your life.
19. Money spent on trainers, dieticians... does pay off in the long-run. So, if you are serious and could use a real-expert's opinion - go for it.
20. Biscuits with tea was never a Indian thing - let's lose that biscuit.

There are of course the standard rules about breakfast, sleep, water... that are universally applicable.

I am getting ready to watch Super Bowl (American Football's finale for the year) in a few hours. Go Steelers!

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