Losing weight and all the drama that unfolds - #2

It has been exactly one year since I wrote this post. Sometime after I wrote this, this diet stopped working for me. I read somewhere that it happens. Over the next 5 months, I gained 2 kilos back and also lost it. After that I went to attend a friend's wedding in Kolkata, I gained 4 kilos. I ate rasgullas for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I hogged on misti doi like my life depended on it. So I may have got a little, teeny, tiny bit out of control. I could not go on a diet after this. I stuck to my diet portions of food and walked whenever I could and I stopped fretting and checking my weight every other day also the job had started weighing me down and food was the only good thing going on in my life. After a job change, now I am back on track. I am now back to the weight logged in the old post. Yay! me. This was my goal weight one in the 51 in 501 list. :)

Some things I am following now:

1) Gave up juice, I don't love them, but I would drink it if my friend is or if I am offered one in a party or something. I would drink a large cup of coke or Pepsi with burger or pizza (I should just stop eating burger or pizza right ?). Now, replaced all these with water. No more juice or any kind of drinks.

2) Gave up biscuits. I love Bourbon biscuits. But I don't eat them anymore. I don't buy them, don't eat them if offered.

3) Go grocery shopping with a full stomach and a bottle of water. Previously I used to go grocery shopping after 2-3 hours of breakfast and never carried a bottle of water with me which usually ended up with me in the billing counter with at least 3 types of biscuits and 2 cans of some kind of drink which I finished up as soon as I reached home.

4) No more sugar. I have coffee two times a day. With milk. I would like to say it is a small cup, but it is usually a big cup. I have slowly started adding less and less sugar in my coffee and probably by the end of this week or beginning of next week, I will be having my coffee without any sugar. :)

5) Counting calories. I check the calories on everything now. If I am craving for something, I look up the calories for the said thing and calculate how many minutes of walking and exercise is needed to burn those calories and this usually kills off that craving right then and there. Thanks to my sister for this tip.

6) Detox drink. A big bottle of water with a lemon squeezed into it and a few crushed mint leaves (because only lemon gives bad breath) two or three days in a week is enough I guess. Don't take my word on this. You can do a little research of your own. I started getting cold because of this so had to stop after just two weeks.

I tried to give up chocolate and ice creams also, but this is not possible for me. Especially since Tender Coconut ice cream from Naturals Ice Cream has bought a special meaning to my life.

That's about weight loss and thank God there has not been much drama from anyone around.

So like I say, if this helps just one person out there, I will be happy. :)

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 :)