Thursday, September 25, 2014

Losing weight and all the drama that unfolds.

You know what is the most annoying thing ? People around you telling you to lose weight.

Can you believe that I have found a thing which is more annoying after losing the weight ?

Me - I went to gym :) :)
Them - Oh!! Don't join gym. Your weight will increase suddenly if you stop going. You should not have joined gym.

Me - I took up Herbalife (protein drink) for breakfast and green tea :) :)
Them - So you just have to drink that ? (like this is easy to do) I am sure that if you stop it you will increase like anything.

Me - I went on a diet and replaced my dinner with fruits.
Them - What if you cant continue it after your marriage ? Are you going to starve your husband ? You have to start eating dinner after marriage and then you will put on weight very quick.

Me - It just went away. I don't even know how ? I could not be more happier ;-) :)
Them - Suddenly everything will come back. Just wait.

OMG !! Can some people BE more annoying ?

I really did lose a lot of weight - like 10 kilos in 7 months. Now, I have to listen to all these jibes about it. 

It was not easy. I get hungry very quick. I have an enormous appetite. The fact that I absolutely love food does not help in the least. It is a constant day to day struggle to not succumb to all my cravings and to indulge in them only once every week.

Here is what I did, if it helps one person out there, I would be happy.

After waking up I do 50 crunches.

Breakfast - 300ml of protein drink . I alternate between Herbalife and getrim. The fact that I love milk helps a lot. I read that sucrose and fructose (which is present in protein drinks) is not so good for the body so sometimes I have 2 idlis. The problem with idlis is I cant have them every day.

Mid morning snack - I have breakfast at 7am. I have to catch the bus at 7.25am. So, I if I don't have a mid morning snack I might just die. So I carry a little approx 20gm of saffola muesli and have it around 10.30am.

Lunch - A normal lunch but I have reduced it from 4 small chapatis to 3 small chapatis. I brought smaller boxes to carry rice items in. Now, I get full with just 2 chapatis. Wheat dosas or ragi dosas have the lowest calories, of course if you have it with chutney.

Evening snack - Around 6pm I eat at least 3 biscuits usually McVities Digestive and drink atleast 300ml of water.

I reach home at 8.10pm. I go for a walk for at least 45 minutes. If I reach early like before 8, I walk for an hour. If I think that I am going to reach very late like after 8.30pm, I get down from the bus some 4 or 5 stops from mine and walk to my house.

Night - I have a normal dinner (little rice or 1 chapati or 2 dosas) if I go for walk. When I don't go for walk because it is raining out or because I just feel lazy, I eat a little bit of fruits usually papaya or apple and drink buttermilk.

If I ever feel hungry in between meals (read always) I have 3-4 almonds and drink a lot of water.

Now half of my cousins know that I take Herbalife. I can see them sitting there in my marriage hall (no, I am not getting married right now, my parents are still searching) and making it a point to tell each and every one that I reduced weight by drinking Herbalife. They think I am taking the easy way out. If I were taking the easy way out, I would just pop some tablets (Herbalife has those and these tablets are way cheaper than the protein powders, but I was never and I never will be the person to take the easy (unhealthy too, or so I have read) way out, I love working hard towards my goals).

It is really hard to wake up everyday with the resolve to lose weight. I get my heart broken a dozen times when I check my weight and see that it has increased. I am slowly getting used to it. Do you know how effing hard it is to say no if someone offers a second chocolate ? And don't even get me started on chocolate. I have told all my friends to never buy me chocolate. Now, I feel sad if they don't buy it for me. When I am PMSing I crave for good food. It gets so hard to not maintain the diet during these times (If some knows how to curb these cravings, I would love me some tips)

On the bright side I have reduced 2 sizes in some and one size in some brands. The belts which are sold in malls and will not wear out for 2-3 years never used to fit me, and now they do. I have been told that I look awesome now (I hated that compliment because they meant that I was not awesome before which is a lie because I am always awesome ;-)) . I changed my wardrobe (not completely), I have stopped wearing clothes which make me one with the wall behind me. I have a bright yellow and a bright red sweatshirts :). 

I used to do a lot of stress eating and now I do stress shopping. I have a bit of control on this now. But, it has a tendency to get out of hand sometimes. I put all the money I saved by not eating into buying new clothes :)

I would love to hear about any such incidents that you or your friends have gone through. Any suggestions, like a low calorie tasty recipe would also be very helpful :)

29 comments:

  1. That's some awesome work you have done to reduce your weight. I have been trying so much to reduce but my tongue doesn't let me diet and my procrastination doesn't let me workout :( I try hard to at least avoid junk food but I give out and indulge myself. Making resolves and breaking them is what am doing.

    Anyway, don't listen to those people who make it a point to just criticize. You are doing an awesome routine.Btw, sprouts are good sources of protein without any unhealthy add-ons and its filling too. Try it if you want to avoid the protein drinks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will be reaplcing protein drink on one or two days with sprouts from now onwards. I never though of sprouts as a breakfast option. Hmmm..
      Thanks for the comment and support Keirthana. :)

      Delete
  2. Wow! 10 it's in 7 months? Hats off to you. I'm struggling to reduce my weight too. The hardest part is saying no to ice creams and chocolates :( Try having Quaker oats biscuits too. It's a tasty and healthy alternative to the normal ones.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ice cream and chocolates. Just reading those words make me want to have some right now. :( My biggest weakness too.
      Will give oats biscuits a try. :)
      Thanks for your comment and support. :)

      Delete
  3. Ah the well-wishers. Don't you just hate them sometimes?! Wait till you do lose weight --- you'll cop flak even then! When I lost weight people honestly thought I wasn't eating much and exercising too much. I aws still eating though --- I love my food and like you, need to have 6 meals a day. I had just reduced my portion sizes. With the protein shakes, go for the low-carb ones and yeah, definitely only have them twice or thrice a week. I tend to have them after a huge strength training session.

    Good luck with the weight loss!! Focus on healthy lifestyle and you'll do great! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I hate all of those the "well-wishers". Reducing portion sizes is the best thing I have come across. HAve to try making my own protien shakes instead of using protein powders. Will reasearch on this asap. :)
      Thanks for your comment and support. :)

      Delete
  4. Congratulations on losing weight :) A useful post for those who are trying hard to reduce weight... What you said in second paragraph from the last, can be a great inspiration for most girls to reduce weight: 'I put all the money I saved by not eating into buying new clothes'

    TC! Keep smiling :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Buying new clothes is one of the greatest inspiration right ? :)
      Thanks for the comment Sindhu :)

      Delete
  5. People criticise everything. Don't worry about it. You have lost weight. Be happy. May be treat yourself with your favourite food. :P :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Right now, not worrying at all. :)
      Thanks for the comment and support :)

      Delete
  6. This is my story. I reduced 10 kilos too..but I need to reduce around 8 more to reach my target weight :(
    I must check out herbalife. I hate milk.
    am such a junk foodieeeeeeeeeee...please help me stop craving so much. I think I should marry a bar of chocolate.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yayy!!
      I too crave junk food.. :( It is difficult to stop craving junk food. I usually try to distract myself by reading or watching TV whenever I have these cravings. You can try this method. Usually I just put it off and keep putting it off because we know the craving is never going to go :(.
      You would probably eat your partner in 1 hour after marriage, or would you wait till then.. :D :P

      Delete
  7. Food is one thing about which I have stopped compromising. I like to have something, I will have it the other day if not now. What I feel is that we shouldn't keep ourselves from having what we love. I know that it has certain consequences mostly involving with weight. But if we are able to balance them both, it will be awesome. Then again I have to confess, I ate so much junk food that I should be like 200 pounds or even more, but I don't gain weight that easily. No, I don't work out.

    People will always have something to say. If we are fat, they gotto say something and if we aren't even then. That judging attitude of people can never go away. Nevertheless, it shouldn't stop us from doing what we feel comfortable doing, inspite of what others will think or say.

    Btw, that was a detailed post with timings and all. May be you will be contacted by some health magazine or could feature in a newspaper under Health section.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You don't put on weight easily. I hate you just a little bit right now.
      I don't let anyone's comment bother me much. People will always have something to criticise, right..
      Thank you for the comment.

      Delete
  8. Wow Arpitha! Great work there. Nice to know that you have reduced weight. And don't listen to people who keep telling something or the other, they always have some comment to make. I too have been trying a lot to reduce my weight but nothing seems to be working for me. And my health condition doesn't let me do a lot of exercise. How I wish I could reduce some weight too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Reema. Walking helps in a small way. See if that is possible.
      Hope everything gets better.
      Thanks for the comment :)

      Delete
  9. I was also trying to lose weight this year but have been losing weight for some different reason now. But I feel exercising helps. I did lose considerable amount of weight just by exercising. I did not do any kind of diet control. Just reduced eating out and chocolates.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tried this, but if and when I eat out, I gained back the weight I had lost that week. :(
      But whatever works right ? That is the one main thing I have learnt.. :)
      Thank you for the comment. :)

      Delete
  10. It's disappointing how unsupportive people can be, but nonetheless it's not surprising at all!

    But good job ME-er, that is really awesome :) It takes lots of will power to get results!

    And wow it has been quite some time since I read you, glad to see you back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Not at all suprising, yes. Sometimes it is good if we take it up as a challenge to prove them wrong. :D

      Thank you wanderer, for the comment and the support :)

      Delete
  11. Seems like it's my story...10 in 7..gr8 job girl..keep it up

    ReplyDelete
  12. Things I did and still do in losing weight:

    1. Bought a digital weighing scale.
    2. Monitored my weight every morning and evening
    3.Squeezed 15 mins of elliptical or 30 min walk all day
    4. Deliberately stopped eating anything sweet or dessert (I practise to drink coffee with no sugar)
    5. I eat everything else normally (no other diet restriction) because I tend to over eat if I diet.
    6. If I skipped sugar (in any forms ) for 3 days straight I tend to have less cravings and more active)

    Doing all this and still monitoring weight I have reached 74.5 from 80.5 in 5 months now and still losing.

    Hope this helps.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That really helps a lot. Thank you. And thank you for taking out the time to make this awesome list.
      I am trying to take my coffee without sugar now. Lets see what happens. :)
      Thanks a lot for the comment. :)

      Delete
  13. Erm....my depression medication made me gain 7 kgs in the last year :(. Dieting isn't my forte so bought a treadmill. Hope to keep that up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ooohh!! I hope everything is okay now. I hope everything works out for you..
      Lots of love :*

      Delete
  14. You will never have any idea:

    1) how alike we are
    2) how much this post helped, both in terms of details AND morale
    3) how many times I have read this post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are very much alike, I feel that whenever I read your blog. :)
      I am glad that this post has helped you. Your comment always makes my day :*
      Thanks a lot CookieCrumbs. :)
      Now I feel like eating a cookie or chocolate or both.. :)

      Delete
  15. I read your post. That is some awesome work and will power.
    And yes, unless we start overeating everything is fine :)
    Thank you so much for the long comment. I love long comments.. :)

    ReplyDelete