[kanuj]

I drink a couple of small glasses of hot water after lunch. I read this in an intra-office email, so made it into a habit. I'm not sure if it helps weight loss or not, but it surely helps to digest the radioactive sludge that is served here at lunch time.

[noopster]

As much as we may wish it, weight management does not happen merely by downing 3 glasses of hot water after each meal or munching on Marie biscuits for tea.

It's actually MUCH simpler than that: when calories expended daily > calories consumed daily, you lose weight

I am currently on a professionally controlled 2,000 calorie a day diet with about an hour's workout that expends God alone knows how many! The results are showing however: I have lost about 1.6 kg in just above a week. It is slow going, sure, but every day I feel the transformation. After successfully quitting smoking last June (check my 'contributions' to the Help Smoking Members Quit... thread) weight management was my next logical goal and am glad I have embarked on the journey. Hope to see it through to completion with all you folks, but I know that's not going to happen: this is a struggle I must continue all my life!
One thing's for sure: I refuse to be a fatty anymore. Taking responsibility for my eating & exercise habits and my lifestyle in general is the way I exorcise the demons and pave the way for a healthier, happier life for me and my family.

[bblost]

I have always wondered why I weigh less on Monday morning than on other weekdays.

For example on Monday this week, I weighed 94.9
Today (Wednesday) I weighed 96.5

Some googling shows this could be due to the excess salt in my food taken in office. Causes water retention. Plus weekdays I am cycling. So naturally imbibing a lot of water.

From now on I am going to keep 2 charts in my head. My Monday weights and my Wednesday weights.

Does anyone else also observe this phenomenon.

I have seen this over a really long amount of time.

[shivasuma]

Hi guys,
I started my exercise routine about 3 weeks ago. I was about 91-92 kgs. Now I weigh in at 88kgs. My target is 82-83. The hardest part starts now. I have been religiously following this routine. I cycle (non-gear) about 1.5kms (one way) to the corporation play ground which has a running track, skating ring and 2 basketball courts. I jog for about 4-5 laps (each lap is about 400m). And then I do some moderate running for 3-4 laps. I am not pushing myself to sprint yet for fear of straining some muscle. I plan to start sprinting in about 2 weeks or so. Then I play basketball(half-court) for close to 45 mins. I hope to reach my target by Jan end.

I am going to gradually increase my workouts. I am going to post my weight here every week, which might keep me motivated.

[ExtremeTorque]

^^shivasuma - great going! one advice on the basketball part, wear knee guards while playing because when you are jumping to take a basket, the knee cap tends to become a little loose and if someone is tackling you at this time and accidentally hits your knee, you risk dislocation. i say this as i dislocated both my knees, while taking the basket and was being tackled.
Also, alter between increasing your jog/run & basketball playing time. Basketball for sure is a high adrenalin sport and will help you lose quite a few calories and have fun at the same time. Good luck!!!

My updates - Post a week of inactivity due to the flu seem to have gained 2kgs. Another shocker, the neighbourhood pool has been closed for the annual maintanance/winter and will open in March. Now back to basketball with a few sessions of badminton thrown in.

[bblost]

23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health? - YouTube

[noopster]

Random post on eating:

Do we actually pause and think what we dump into our body? How often have you said (or heard others say) "I actually DON'T eat much, just have a tendency to put on weight!" Even accounting for bad genes and a sluggish metabolic rate, that is a big fat lie (pun intended).

Take my case: a steady adopter of the "Not my fault, I am a normal eater" doctrine since early adulthood, finally realised how much I'd been lying to myself and others recently when I started penning down each and every morsel that I put into my body.

Here's my list of foods to skip completely when trying to lose weight, based on personal experience, in no particular order:
- Chocolate
- Ice cream
- Mithai/sweets
- Chlormints/chewing gum/ sweetened saunf after meals
- Tea and coffee (1/2 cup limit daily)
- Aerated drinks
- Packaged Juices
- Anything at all with added sugar
- Pizzas
- Sandwiches, however healthy they may look
- Pastry, cake, doughnuts
- Bread (daily limit 3 small slices of brown bread)
- Farsan
- Chakli
- Eggs (daily limit 3 boiled egg whites only)
- Chicken in rich gravy
- Prawns in rich gravy
- Anything in rich gravy
- Fried fish (the only way other than rich gravy that us Mangaloreans cook )
- Fried anything
- Potatoes (nobody told me this, I just quit for myself. Useless vegetable it is!)
- Rice (daily limit: 1 portion)
- Samosa
- Vada Pao
- Chaat
- Butter, ghee, any oil/fat other than what goes into regular cooking
- Cheese
- All forms of alcohol and the accompanying high calorie foods (nuts, chips, "chakna", non-veggie snacks)
- Smoking or any other intoxicant that messes with the body's metabolism or causes cravings

Also identified some common mistakes that would lead to binge/overeating situations:
- Work long hours in office without a break
- Long gaps between meals
- Reach home too early for dinner after not eating anything after lunch
- Not stocking the kitchen with enough fruit, cucumbers, carrots and instead having bread, cheese, chocolate, fried snacks easily available
- Watching TV or any other passive pursuit that encourages eating
- Eating on the run or while working
- Experimenting with food: "every meal needs to be different", not maintaining balance or consistency in diet
- Expecting the world to care about my diet (even if I attend parties these days I eat beforehand and/or carry my own snackpack!)
- Too many large meals a day (current regimen: 3 full meals plus protein-rich snacks every 2 hours. Each of those "meals" is about half of what my previous definition of a meal was!)

If you rolled your eyes and went "Big deal! Everyone knows those are the foods to avoid" here's an eye-opener: those are ALL foods that I consumed on a regular/occasional basis and habits I followed as recently as 4 weeks ago!

I just lied to everyone and myself about it.

It's scary what junk we regularly pop into our bodies.

Hope this helps!

[bblost]

I have commented before about how I weigh less on Mondays and then gain close to 2 kilos by end of the week.

I tried a simple experiment this week.

I weighed 94.5 kilos on Monday.
I weigh the same today on Friday.

Did not eat at the office cafeteria on Wednesday and Thursday.
On Tueday, I ate just a plate of fruits and some small snack.
Left early and had a nice meal from Mast Kalandar.

From Wednesday till Today, I have woken up a lil early and prepared my own lunch.
On Wednesday had a lovely Red Rice with Spinach and carrots.
Thursday had a Chick Pea Salad.
Today am eating a Beetroot salad with Pak Choi leaves and some buns.

These dishes do not take a lot of time to cook.
Except the red rice, but it needs no work from my end.

Will improve on this by adding in some meats over next week.

I think that since most office cafeterias are run by caterers who have to supply food at low margins, they use substandard oils etc.

Make your own lunch. As they say ABS are made in the kitchen.

I am not working for ABS, but what they hell, I would not mind a FLAT stomach for once.

[hiren959]

My total wt loss is 9kg in last eight months, but since last two months it is stable, not decreasing.
I want to do the strict diet now to get the result.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by noopster

It's scary what junk we regularly pop into our bodies.

While I agree the list that you posted is to be avoided if your trying to lose weight. But, honestly what is life if you dont eat any of those foods once in a while and stick to some bland diet routine.

I personally feel moderation of any food along with a strict exercise regime ( 1 hour minimum daily) will ensure results albeit. maybe slowly but, that will STAY instead of a crash course diet.

I am following above. I try to go to gym atleast 4 times a week for an hour and havent drastically changed my eating habits which includes most of above you listed.

I am seeing a difference. My body is getting into a shape, losing weight a bit slowly though. I have kept a target of coming to my ideal weight of 88kgs by Dec-2012 and I am just a little above 100kgs now.

[noopster]

Originally Posted by mobike008

While I agree the list that you posted is to be avoided if your trying to lose weight. But, honestly what is life if you dont eat any of those foods once in a while and stick to some bland diet routine.

mobike, the list is not prescriptive. I agree with what you say but the point is that it was more than "once in a while" for me, and that was what was causing the problem!

I personally feel moderation of any food along with a strict exercise regime ( 1 hour minimum daily) will ensure results albeit. maybe slowly but, that will STAY instead of a crash course diet.

For a normal or slightly overweight person, yes. But for someone who has struggled with obesity throughout his adult life, there has to be something drastically new to tweak the body's metabolism and inherent inertia. I am in that unfortunate position . Nothing wrong with your approach either. Good luck!

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by noopster

mobike, the list is not prescriptive. I agree with what you say but the point is that it was more than "once in a while" for me, and that was what was causing the problem!

Hmmm. Then in that situation its better to follow a strict regime atleast until the weight comes down to a desired level.

I eat a light breakfast and an equally light lunch but, my dinner is heavier than these two meals. Thats how my body is tuned even though i know its the wrong cycle

Yesterday, had a customer lunch meeting in office wherein customer order Domino Pizzas for us and we were eating and talking. I didnt realize that 45 minute meeting would have such drastic results

I finished 4 large slices and post the meeting I felt damn heavy and guilty as I normally dont have habit of eating heavy lunches. Decided no more pizzas for atleast next quarter.

So yes, a body gets tuned as you tune it.

[rki2007]

Drinking warm water

I have always heard mixed opinion about drinking warm water. Please enlighten me.

1) Some say that drinking more water than we normally do, pressurizes the kidney by making it to work more.

2) Some say the other way.Its always good to drink warm water and it infact flushes out wastes and prevents kidney from forming stones and also good to the functioning of kidneys.

Two things that i want to know is:

1) Is it good to drink more water.
2) Does it help in weight reduction

[comfortablynumb]

On a lighter note: Jason Gay: The 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym - WSJ.com

Cheers,
Vikram

[avisidhu]

Originally Posted by noopster

- Tea and coffee (1/2 cup limit daily)

It's not Tea/coffee that's the main culprit, rather the accompanying Sugar. If you can cut on the sugar, then you have definitely have more cups, in my humble opinion.

In fact, I read an article in NYT couple of months ago, which argued that all this while everyone was targeting fats, but excess consumption of sugar has major health implication that were largely ignored till now.
Some specific side effects include diabetes, obesity and even some forms of cancer! Apparently, for our daily needs around 2 TBSP is good enough

Here's the link in case someone wants to read:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/ma...pagewanted=all