[SDP]

Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 6 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 10 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. 'Fountainhead' continued. Almost 2/3rd done.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 2-3 hours.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Spent some 5-10 minutes everyday to do quick tidying job.
2. Slowly started disciplining the kids as well for returning things to their designated place once they are done using them.

[AlphaKilo]

Sorry about not posting for the previous week.
It isn't much different from the ones before it, rather, the time has got more strenuous and tight! I have a presentation to make in the next days, so other than regular cycling, nothing much of outing. I hope to take some time off after the third week of october and go on a trekking/hiking trip.

Well, useful work so far has been only preparing presentation and doing corrections in it.

[SDP]

Thanks for the update! Ups and downs in the regime are OK. Even I have those. What I dread are the breaks - when one falls off the wagon so to say.

Germany must be getting colder by the day. Has your search for a gym resulted into something concrete?

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by SDP

Germany must be getting colder by the day. Has your search for a gym resulted into something concrete?

You are correct about the breaks. I hope not to fall into that lazy trap!

Well, since I am shifting house in a week, the search for has to start all over again(new locality!). As you rightly said, it already started to get bitter cold with rains, preventing any sort of outdoor activity. But, I am sure, once I am into the new house, I will join a fitness centre asap. Just bought a rain-proof trousers to wear over my normal pants, so that I will be able to ride bicycle even in rains.

[SDP]

Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 8 times this week.
3. Played cricket and basketball with the kido on one day.

#2 Reading
1. 'Fountainhead' continued. Completed 22/29 of the MP3 files. Each file is about an hour. Hopefully would wrap up the book this week.

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 5 hours.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Spent some 5-10 minutes everyday to do quick tidying job.
2. The car is getting dusty more often. Rain used to give a free wash earlier. Not any more. Washing the car twice a week.

[SDP]

Went through this series over the weekend and sure it was a wakeup call.

It actually helps one understand why will-power gives up when dieting. Busting the 'a calorie is a calorie' myth was a WHOA moment for me. I eat a lot of junk & sweet and try to justify that my overall calorie intake is in check, so it wouldn't matter. But it does. The constant craving for food (especially sweet) and the feeling of 'never being satisfied with food' is an after-effect of heavy junk&sweet consumption.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0zD1...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ndTE...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo3TR...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn1cI...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of-qv...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0WdR...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnbM...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKkBs...feature=relmfu

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAqcb...feature=relmfu

[SDP]

Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 10 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. 'Fountainhead' completed!
2. Started with 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 7 hours!

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Spent some 5-10 minutes everyday to do quick tidying job.

[BANDHAV]

I have been regularly going to gym for almost 7 months now, I have adopted a healthy eating style, I have reached the first target in terms of weight control, I weigh around 100 kg now, targeting for sub 90 kg now.
Fitness have become an obsession for me and to quench my thrust for the same I have also joined kickboxing classes.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by BANDHAV

I have been regularly going to gym for almost 7 months now, I have adopted a healthy eating style, I have reached the first target in terms of weight control, I weigh around 100 kg now, targeting for sub 90 kg now.
Fitness have become an obsession for me and to quench my thrust for the same I have also joined kickboxing classes.

That's fantastic! Congratulations on successfully reaching the first milestone!

Wish you all be best for the next milestone!

[AlphaKilo]

Sorry about my absence! As said, busy with work. Well, finally shifted to new house and now everything is scheduled as I want it to be!

Cycling continues, but I don't think it would be for long, because, the first snow showers are already expected by the end of this week.(temperatures dropping below -1°C) But, then I have managed to find a fitness centre close-by my house! will be joining from November. Hurray!

bandhav, good to hear about your efforts. keep pushing, as my Commanding Officer (NCC) used to say:

"Only our body experiences Pain, not the Mind" - so keep pushing yourself, don't give up mentally!

[SDP]

AlphaKilo, good to hear about the fitness center.
My personal observation has been Germans do have a thing for fitness and its rare to spot obese folks in Germany (as compared to let's say USA).

How much does the fitness center charge per month?

--------------------------------------------------------
Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 10 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Completed 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'
2. Completed 'The Tipping Point'

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 2 hours!

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Spent some 5-10 minutes everyday to do quick tidying job.
2. Have yet to embark upon Diwali-cleaning.

[AlphaKilo]

Originally Posted by SDP

AlphaKilo, good to hear about the fitness center.
My personal observation has been Germans do have a thing for fitness and its rare to spot obese folks in Germany (as compared to let's say USA).

How much does the fitness center charge per month?

Well, you are correct and when the weather is like this:
Image source: http://www.merkur-online.de/bilder/2...ingen-2d33.jpg



You would need to have some fitness centres! Well it is a surprise snow, that so early in november(end october) around 10 cms of snowfall! Weekend was full of snow and is yet to receed. I shall put up my own images of snow in non-auto images thread by evening.

By the way, the gym charges around 17 euros per month. Its one of those cheap gyms. Normal rates are anywhere between 20 euros - 70 euros per month (with a contract for minimum of 12/24 months).

Well, last week was more or less event free, that is regular cycling, report writing, acclamatisation into new project. Weekend, enjoyed the first snow, and today morning was a headache, as I had to drive my cycle for 3 kms without any gears. The shifter mechanism froze and I was struck in 6H. Pedalling up hill in the more or less highest gear that too with rear brakes frozen too was some adventure.Temperatures will be around -2 °C range and its going to be tough maintaining the cycling regime.

[SDP]

Hope you got the shifter and the brakes fixed. Is the gym in the same building/complex where you stay or do you need to walk?

--------------------------------------------------------
Update for last week:

#1 Weight-Control
1. Went for a brisk-walk only on 5 days during the week.
2. Walked up 10 floors 4 times this week.

#2 Reading
1. Completed 'Dilbert and the way of the weasel"

#3 Planned 'core' work
1. About 5 hours of core work.
2. Three full days spent in training.

#4 Home-maintenance (neat-clean-tidy)
1. Practically nothing.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Completed "Dilbert and the way of the weasel" this week. Rib-tickling humor interlaced with quick intelligent jabs. Borderline "politically incorrect". Loved it. Quoting a few parts:

Scott Adams -> "In my previous scholarly work - "The Dilbert Principle" - I explained my theory that Idiots are systematically identified and promoted to management. A retarded chimpanzee can drink a case of beer and still perform most management functions. If that seems harsh, listen to this list of management functions and figure out which one the chimp couldn't do.
1. Avoiding decisions
2. Attending meetings
3. Babbling
4. Demanding status reports
5. Not reading status reports
6. Handing out random rewards and punishments"

Scott Adams -> "Here from an email are some more excellent tips for appearing smart — Dear Mr. Adams, based on my experiences as a software engineer, I came up with a list of five things you must do in order to be perceived as a genius in the tech industry:
(1) Be arrogant: nothing makes you look smarter than dismissing other people's ideas with utter disdain.
(2) Refuse to document anything: this guarantees that people will always have to beg you for information.
(3) Be opinionated: don't explain why you have your opinions, just put them out there and mock anyone who disagrees.
(4) Hang around with smart people: you'll look smart if you hang around with smart people.
(5) Resist using any 'process': processes are for losers. Act like you're too smart to need a process because everything you do works on the first try."

Scott Adams -> "I realize that everything I say about women in this section is a gross generalization, unfair, untrue, and the result of my poor perception. In other words, it's just like everything I say. Later in the book I will say bad things about men to even up things. That said... There are two types of women: the ones who are currently in discomfort, and the ones who are actively seeking it. That's why women are more effective weasels than men — because woman get some sort of bizarre enjoyment out of feeling bad. In the first group, the women currently in discomfort, the most popular causes include childbirth, menstrual cramps, headaches, men and wearing bad shoes. In the second group, the voluntary pain seekers, we have the women who feel fine but are planning to watch sad movies, imagine bad things that don't exist, pick fights with men over things the men didn't mean to say, and shop for uncomfortable shoes... Men are comfort seekers and discomfort avoiders. I think I speak for most men when I say we only enjoy pain when it happens to other people, also known as entertainment... Women know how to inject pain into any situation. If a man has no reason to fight with a woman, she will sense the void and talk nonstop until some sort of pain is generated. For example, a man might begin to doze off or attempt to change the subject. That's proof that he doesn't care about the woman, and it's ground for a fight. When you combine the natural pickiness of women with their ability to endure pain, you have a formula for total domination."

Scott Adams -> "If you make the mistake of hiring competent employees and training them, then your boss can someday replace you with one of your excellent employees. The safest balance as far as your career is concerned is to hire people who look competent (no dopey faces). Dysfunctional employees have another benefit too. You can launch them at projects that are managed by your rivals within the company."

Scott Adams -> "When you work for a big company, the only way to succeed is by begging dozens of people to do the one thing they hate above all else i.e. their jobs... People have learned to avoid answering the phone because it's always someone asking them to do work. Incoming calls rarely involve people volunteering to help you. Nothing good can come from answering the phone."

[anand_hc]

This seems so me Well built and aroung 67-68 KGs 5 years back, now struglling to climb stairs for 2-3 floors. Used to be active & play lots of sports. Now I am at 75KG & really struggling. I just have started playing squash for last 3 days for almost an hour. Hopefully will get back to 70Kg soon.

This is an inspiring piece.. thank for sharing.

[AlphaKilo]

@SDP thanks a ton for those quotes, even I am thinking of ordering this book.(don't want to download those torrent ones! )

My week was so far normal(cycling, walking, oh yes, weekend jogging ~3kms) as the temperatures have risen back to 12-15 °C back again! I know it sounds strange but then its good for time being. My brakes and shifter had just frozen, so little bit of sun, things are now back to normality.

So, if I buy that book, it will be my first ever, yes, first ever book other than my educational ones which I have bought so far in my 25 years of life on earth. I don't have the reading habit but this book strangely sounds interesting and thoughtfully written.