[SDP]

Changes to eating habits during "Important but not urgent thing #1 -> Weight control"

Background -> I typically have breakfast around 7:30am in the morning, couple of chapatis with tea. I have lunch at 12:30pm. Since there is almost 5 hours of gap between the breakfast and the lunch, I typically get hungry and resort to one or two cups of coffee at office before lunch. I used to carry a tiffin from home with 2 chapatis and some veggies. During lunch, I used to pickup some desert and/or some rice item from the office cafeteria. I used to feel drowsy an hour after lunch and that would mean more cups of coffee. By 4-4:30pm, I am again hungry and I go to the canteen and have some snack item - typically idli-sambar or misal-pav or samosas or some dosa item. Dinner time is around 9pm. If I reach home before 8pm, the dinner is an hour away and I dig into some deep fried stuff like bhujia, chakli etc. Dinner is again 2 chapatis, some veg, a little bit of rice and some dal/curry. After dinner, there is a strong urge to have something sweet and I typically start looking for some more sweet junk. Snacking on other junk misc items continues till I go to bed.

After reading the previous para, if you haven't fainted yet, please read on.

I understand that my eating habits are suicidal. I eat so much junk food that the only reason I don't have any serious health issues is because my lunch and dinner are so light. It has worked for me for ages, but with age, the ability of the body to handle all that junk has gone down. A change was needed.

New regime:
1. No changes to breakfast time/variety
2. NOT more than one coffee in office before lunch
3. BIGGEST CHANGE -> No more tiffin. Instead, I am having a full meal in the office cafeteria. It contains one serving of salad/sprouts, 3 chapatis, 2 veggies, 1 papad, rice and some curry/dal. Desert once in 2 weeks.
4. With a full meal at 12:30pm, I don't feel hungry at 4-5pm and I have gradually skipped the evening snack completely. Big change.
5. One tea/coffee in office around 3:00pm.
6. Avoid any other food till dinner. That means I look forward to a early dinner, sometimes as early as 8pm.
7. The post dinner snacking is still continuing, but has been reduced. (Have asked wifey not to buy those items in the first place).
8. Lots of water once I am at home

Opting for cafeteria food in place of home-made tiffin sounds counter-intuitive, but it has worked for me. The drowsiness post lunch is significantly lower.

My guess is, more than the 1.5km brisk walk, the changes in eating habits have contributed vastly to the 2.5kgs lost.

Have plans for tweaking the eating habits further.

[srikanthns]

Good thread! You have focussed on the health front. But in the beginning paragraphs you were questioning the deeper values / value systems pertaining to life. Maybe the health reclamation is giving different perspective which many of us can relate to.
Keep up the flow!

[ashis89]

That is quite a write up and i couldn't agree more with whatever you said. I have just joined a job after completing B.E. and have a long way to go before i can reach your age. And yet I have had similar thoughts in life(rat race in school->college->graduation).

I am 6ft and my weight has varied from 85(during school days) to 76 at present(lowest was 74). Though I have never been fat(34 waist throughout),i have been conscious about my weight. During my school days,i was very active,played games,cycled to school and weight stayed at 85. I learned to accept it. Then slowly it started falling and I accepted it. Now it is 76 and I am ok with it. I do have an erratic diet schedule(overeating sometimes to skipping meals altogether). I liked your thread and look forward to more of it, a good learning experience for me.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by condor

@SDP, two lovely video clips (wont call them ad's here), very nicely juxtaposed with your write-up. Continue it, hopefully it will inspire others to stop, pause, take a look & do any required course-correction.

Just one question: You started this yesterday. And already a bump-up ?

Thanks condor! I love most of the Safari ads. Even the one about "the only lines that matter are the ones you leave behind" is quite inspiring.

The thread was in assembly line till yesterday night, so had to bump up to get it to appear in new posts.

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

I can understand what you are going through. I also am going through the same. Even though I work in a startup, the daily challenges are not "Challenging enough" for me to be motivated and driven.
....
P.S: I don't have any children.

Bang on about the "not challenging enough" part! Many-a-times you feel that your organization is wasting your capabilities and potential.

Originally Posted by parsh

But particuarly here in India, the concept of respecting such things is yet to drill down into any company to understand and manage such situations. End result you are always involved in work no matter what planning may have been put through. Work always dominates and the segregation of personal life and work just does not become possible on a regular basis.

Some very good observations there! Even I have noticed that western cultures have significantly more respect for work-life balance and they are quite particular about it.

Originally Posted by amitwlele

@SDP - Great Thread. I think you have already taken a big step in reclaiming your life by posting this thread and making it public. This should keep you motivated.

Thanks! Taking this whole life-transformation journey public was a big decision in itself. I am sure counting on you guys to keep me motivated (as well as getting motivated yourself to do something new/different).

Originally Posted by cediafan

Great thread! A lot of us would be able to relate to you. As we grow older, get married, have kids (you know the drill), time becomes very precious and we all start finding excuses. Wish you good luck with reclaiming.

Thanks! As you pointed out correctly, Time management is key to keep things under control.

Originally Posted by srikanthns

Good thread! You have focussed on the health front. But in the beginning paragraphs you were questioning the deeper values / value systems pertaining to life. Maybe the health reclamation is giving different perspective which many of us can relate to.
Keep up the flow!

Srikanth, very good observation! I was expecting this question and that's why I had hurriedly added the following at the end of one of the posts:
"This is NOT a weight-loss thread. Bringing the weight under control just happens to be the first thing that I took up. This thread is going to cover a broad variety of "Important but not urgent" things over a period of time."

Yes, I have picked up weight-control as "first" challenge as it is one of the low hanging fruits. Chasing the grand goals like "happiness" and "bliss" is going to be tough and is going to need a lot of introspection. But it is definitely on the cards!

Originally Posted by ashis89

That is quite a write up and i couldn't agree more with whatever you said. I have just joined a job after completing B.E. and have a long way to go before i can reach your age. And yet I have had similar thoughts in life(rat race in school->college->graduation).

Rat-race.. perfect! That's the word. Thanks!
You seem to be doing pretty well for yourself on the weight and overall health front. Keep it up!

Thanks everybody for the kind words of encouragement!! Would try my best to live up to your expectations.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by SDP

Changes to eating habits during "Important but not urgent thing #1 -> Weight control"

You want to lose weight but what you are doing is all half measure. I don't want to dissuade you but a chest pain last December and my serious interest in running has got me to shed the extra flab. Things that you need to do:

1. Transform breakfast. If you are vegetarian, have corn flakes (please no kellogs) with milk and may be two toast brown bread without any additives. Forget Milk and sugar. Have Green Tea and if you like it sweet try honey.
2. Coffee at office is fine till the time its black without sugar. Else again green tea with honey.
3. Eat every three hours. Nothing heavy but small portions so that your metabolism rate goes up.
4. Follow heaviest breakfast, medium lunch and sparse dinner
5. Dinner no later than 7-7.30PM. Absolutely no sweets or deserts.
6. Try to hit the bed by 9-9.30PM. Have a 7 hour sleep atleast and wakey wakey by 5AM.
7. Go running / walking by be back home by 6.30 AM.

Early to bed and early has amazing benefits. Believe me!

I suggest creating a profile on Dailymile.com and logging your jogs. You can add me as your first friend . May be getting a bike or starting to run will help you further.


Note from the Team-BHP Support : No mention of alcohol on forum please. Do read the rules before proceeding. Thanks!

[thoma]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

I don't want to dissuade you but a chest pain last December and my serious interest in running has got me to shed the extra flab.

Chest pain at ~30! My oh my. Where are we all heading to? The rat race is really killing us and me too am a victim in one way or other. Even quitting from the race, like what I had done, don't do you any good. You can't totally escape from its grips once you are into it. You can only re-align.

Bringing the weight under control just happens to be the first thing that I took up.

I certainly feel that this is the right starter. Hope we all remember the famous acronym GIGO in computer literature. Garbage In Garbage Out. Our body is no different. Among Indians, there has been a drastic change in what goes into the body, than ancient times. Similar is the case with the way he tortures his body with scarce exercise. It is also sad that we get happy only by seeing another man unhappy.

I second every point that MileCruncher has put forward. Take extra care on what goes inside after 3pm. It may seem unattainable, but it helps a lot - take only wheat products and fresh/boiled vegetables after 3 pm. Reduce whatever is white and oily. Not everyone escapes living carefree. I sometimes feel that we really need to be a sage these days to win each lap of the race. Otherwise, all our wins will be complemented with uninvited failures somewhere down the line. Yet, there are some other people who are born for the race.

It is equally good for you as well as others that you document your progress, and you document well. Wishing you all the best.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

I can understand what you are going through. I also am going through the same. Even though I work in a startup, the daily challenges are not "Challenging enough" for me to be motivated and driven.

Originally Posted by SDP

Bang on about the "not challenging enough" part! Many-a-times you feel that your organization is wasting your capabilities and potential.

Ever thought that might be the root cause of the problem? In this world of maximizing returns and squeezing the last penny of profit, we have done it to ourselves. I have made it a point not to push myself just because I can do it (after years of procrastination, I decided to get a part time MBA...but not willing to aim for a C level position). You are going against the spirit of the thread!

Same with kids. I am not going to put them in a race just because they can run fast, or spelling bee just because they can spell well. It's something for them to enjoy, cherish, brag about, but not necessarily to get returns on.

The part in bold is what mgmt has forced into us

[ampere]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

[*]Transform breakfast. If you are vegetarian, have corn flakes (please no kellogs) with milk and may be two toast brown bread without any additives. Forget Milk and sugar. Have Green Tea and if you like it sweet try honey.

Sorry for off topic. @MC what is the issue with Kellogs? Its because of the nuts they add to create richer variety or the sweetening on the flake? Or is there anything else?

Just for my understanding.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by ampere

what is the issue with Kellogs? Its because of the nuts they add to create richer variety or the sweetening on the flake? Or is there anything else?

Kellogs flakes have too many preservatives and sugar. You want to have corn flakes, get the Mohan (IIRC) brand. Just plain flakes, no additives, no sugar et al.

[WindRide]

Got this as a fwd. Thought its appropriate here ...


When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
and had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
And proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions –
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
There’s always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.

[SDP]

Originally Posted by MileCruncher

You want to lose weight but what you are doing is all half measure. I don't want to dissuade you but a chest pain last December and my serious interest in running has got me to shed the extra flab. Things that you need to do:

1. Transform breakfast. If you are vegetarian, have corn flakes (please no kellogs) with milk and may be two toast brown bread without any additives. Forget Milk and sugar. Have Green Tea and if you like it sweet try honey.
2. Coffee at office is fine till the time its black without sugar. Else again green tea with honey.
3. Eat every three hours. Nothing heavy but small portions so that your metabolism rate goes up.
4. Follow heaviest breakfast, medium lunch and sparse dinner
5. Dinner no later than 7-7.30PM. Absolutely no sweets or deserts.
6. Try to hit the bed by 9-9.30PM. Have a 7 hour sleep atleast and wakey wakey by 5AM.
7. Go running / walking by be back home by 6.30 AM.

Early to bed and early has amazing benefits. Believe me!

I suggest creating a profile on Dailymile.com and logging your jogs. You can add me as your first friend . May be getting a bike or starting to run will help you further.

MC, thanks a lot for the suggestions. Following a diet-regime like that is not easy, I admire your will-power and resolve.
I will look forward to adopting these recommendations in my diet plan.

For me, will-power has been an issue. In the past, I had kick-started drastic lifestyle changes and have seen them fizzle out in a few weeks. So my approach this time around is do small changes, one at a time, in a very gradual fashion. Give the body/mind time get adjusted and accept the one small-gradual change before I introduce the next change.
e.g. as I have mentioned, I have skipped the heavy oily evening snack. In week-1, I substituted the heavy snack items with lighter items - poha, veg sandwitch etc. In week-2, for 2 days I had 5 pieces of Parle-G (~125 kcal) instead of the evening snack, just enough to fight the hunger pangs. In week-3, I actually skipped the evening snack on 2 days and had early dinner. And so on.

My personal view is that drastic changes to diet/lifestyle would give significant noticeable results in short-term. But the body/mind typically repells that sudden change (because of inertia) and sticking to those changes for long-term becomes an issue.
e.g. I had a friend who joined "burn 1000 cals in an hour" type rigourous aerobic class for a month. 3 times a week. The instructor used to litterally squeeze out last drop of sweat from him in that one hour, so much that even normal movement seemed like an effort post the session. Fantastic results at the end of the month, but he did not renew the class for the next month. It was just too much for him.

So gradual, one thing at a time, is the approach I am planning to take. Drastic changes are more suitable for quadrant I (Urgent and Important). What's your take on this approach?
I would tackle the bad habits (sweets, snacking between meals etc) first, before getting into the "content" of the meals.

Green tea is something that I have never tried before, let me explore that. Would you recommend any specific brand?

[trek]

As you already know, your diet is completely haywire. Since you have already taken steps to cut out the junk, I suggest you also consult a qualified nutritionist to chalk out a reasonable diet plan for you. There's a long gap between your breakfast and lunch which actually leads the body into starvation mode leading to more fat storage. As MileCruncher said, you need to have smaller meals at frequent intervals to rev up your metabolism rate.

Also, I will suggest you buy this book, the information will surely help you in your quest to reach a healthy body mass:

Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight - By Rujuta Diwekar

Flipkart.com: Don't Lose Your Mind Lose Your Weight: Book: Rujuta Diwekar (9788184001051)

Also, plain walking in the morning will not yield any benefits. Either you join a gymanisum and invest in a personal trainer for a few months or take up yoga classes.

Make it happen this time buddy, wish you good luck.

[MileCruncher]

Originally Posted by SDP

Green tea is something that I have never tried before, let me explore that. Would you recommend any specific brand?

Green Tea helps build up antioxidants in the body apart from increasing your metabolism rate.

You get various brands like Twinning, Tetley, Lipton, Organic et al. Take your pick!

[SDP]

Originally Posted by vivekiny2k

Ever thought that might be the root cause of the problem? In this world of maximizing returns and squeezing the last penny of profit, we have done it to ourselves. I have made it a point not to push myself just because I can do it (after years of procrastination, I decided to get a part time MBA...but not willing to aim for a C level position). You are going against the spirit of the thread!

Same with kids. I am not going to put them in a race just because they can run fast, or spelling bee just because they can spell well. It's something for them to enjoy, cherish, brag about, but not necessarily to get returns on.

The part in bold is what mgmt has forced into us

Agree on the kids part. For the first part, I have a slight difference in opinion.
Couple of things:
1. Although it might sound clichéd, I do believe that everybody should try to rise to their own potential. I mean, if you are fantastic story-teller, would you be happy writing user-manuals for a mixer grinder? Look at it the other way around: if your job is to write user-manuals for mixer grinders (and you do only that), although you have the potential to write fantastic novels, aren't you robbing the world off a few beautiful novels?

2. Since you have specifically mentioned the C level, let me ask a question. Do all the C level execs do their job for the fat pay-cheque, the perks and stock-options? I would tend to believe that, at least for a few of them, being in position to create something new, pushing the boundaries of technology and imagination is more of a reward. Being associated with and responsible for something that adds value to other human beings.
Now put that in context to what I have talked about in my opening post: about having a purpose for the life and achieving something that is really meaningful.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by SDP

Agree on the kids part. For the first part, I have a slight difference in opinion.
Couple of things:
1. Although it might sound clichéd, I do believe that everybody should try to rise to their own potential. I mean, if you are fantastic story-teller, would you be happy writing user-manuals for a mixer grinder? Look at it the other way around: if your job is to write user-manuals for mixer grinders (and you do only that), although you have the potential to write fantastic novels, aren't you robbing the world off a few beautiful novels?

2. Since you have specifically mentioned the C level, let me ask a question. Do all the C level execs do their job for the fat pay-cheque, the perks and stock-options? I would tend to believe that, at least for a few of them, being in position to create something new, pushing the boundaries of technology and imagination is more of a reward. Being associated with and responsible for something that adds value to other human beings.
Now put that in context to what I have talked about in my opening post: about having a purpose for the life and achieving something that is really meaningful.

You are confusing channelizing with maximizing. I might agree to write for a publishing house, but I would still not push myself to 16 hours (or until I break) workdays to "maximize" my output.

The keyword in C level comment was "aim". As they say, aim high. I am contesting the total effort one should spend aiming high.

I had no intentions to discuss what happens when (or if) I get there.