The gym transformation!

I had decided NOT to go to gym, as i didn't want to waste money ( as i have done before)! That was soul purpose of going for a walk in the mornings!  Now that i have started seeing results, i wanted to try walking in the evening also. But winter in Sydney was not helping me! In spite of me wanting to walk in evenings as well, which i did few days, it was taking a toll on my health!  Now i thought, let me get into a gym and do some cardio workouts in evenings along with walk in the morning!

J  Now this went on for 2 weeks..  My research on the various fitness sites and some of Rujuta’s insights made me think of concentrating more on Gym and my all time dream of jogging continuously for 20 mins... It was a miracle..I tried jogging at 7kmph speed, my aim was to reach 5 mins continuously  i went on and tried another 2 mins...and finally i did my first 20 mins continuous jog on the treadmill. Lifetime achievement it was for me. I never ever thought that i could do it. Now i knew i could...So i did this on a regular basis. My Gym is in city and i live 20 mins away by train from city.
I even started hitting gyms on weekends so as to do my 1 hr cardio which included 20 mins treadmill, 30 min elliptical and 10 mins cycling.

i became consistent in this. Now everyone knows , you will easily hit boredom if you do same routine.
So i tried to tweak my routine a little.

In one of my previous Gym memberships back in India, i had a personal trainer(PT) who became a very good friend later. I had his contact number in my mobile phone. I just dialed him and asked him to help me with a routine. This i did because i knew my PT very well and had confidence in his routine, but was doubtful about the highly expensive PT sessions in Sydney. Surprisingly i had his right contact number and he agreed to help me. THINGS happen RIGHT when it has to!

My PT gave me a 4 day routine for gym. 2 days concentrated on weight training and remaining 2 days cardio.. I asked him to give me a 6 day routine instead of 4 days. Too Enthusiastic! Isn't it? He asked me to repeat day 1 after day 4 , so that i will have 6 days of routine. But he recommended at least one day of rest in a week.

I really did well! Strict routine, excellent consistency and great commitment! I said, well Done to myself!

Now, Saturdays i wanted to see how far i could walk. With Google map in my Samsung Nexus in one hand, and ipod loaded with high energy songs, on one Saturday , i said let me walk till Stanmore station from Ashfield. Then got fascinated and walked till NewTown station.

Ashfield > Summer Hill > Lewisham > Petersham > Stanmore > NewTown

It took me roughly 2 hours. I was so happy. I could cover 5 stations. I understood that i enjoy walking. I wasn't very sure about the distance i walked and how much calories i have burnt.

This inspired me to buy a pedometer. I bought the Pink One!

I bought Aussiefit pedometer, the basic one which gives me , Calories, Steps walked and kms walked in the same equipment.

http://www.aussiefitsport.com.au/products/afsdtc-pedometer/

 And now i knew what i want to do on every Saturday.

I seriously don't remember the date as to when i did this first walk, otherwise why shouldn't i add that information here. I hadn't taken any photos , or any such thing to post in it. But surely, in my subsequent posts, you will not be disappointed. I have matured a lot.

Now i walk with my pedometer day in and day out and count every single step i take in my day. I was surprised by the inspiration i got from the pedometer readings.

So this is where i am leaving you in this post...I know i have disappointed all my friends with a small post, but i think this is the logical end of this post. See you soon in my next one!

First Change in the journey!

So, I was 83 kg on June, 2012. I have this record of paying for Fitness centers and buying fitness equipment and not use them.  This time i was clear that i am not going to waste money! My friend always used to say, if you have so much money to waste, why don’t you give me?

I started to walk 1 hour in the nearby park in the mornings.i.e. from 6:45AM to 7:45 AM. I was surprised by the local population who used to come for regular jogging/walking. This makes you feel, that yes, it is better late than never.  One day it started drizzling, and i went with a cap for walking. I was feeling little awkward, who will go for walk if it is drizzling. I was wrong, totally. People were jogging with umbrella held in one hand. This was an eye opener. We tend to find excuses for not being active. But people, who are serious, try to find methods to overcome the hurdles.

I always used to think; how people can continuously jog on a treadmill (athletes are living for fitness. So i never considered them in common people crowd). And i had never dream't that one day i would be able to run continuously for 20 mins.  Another myth burs ted!  The park near my house had a 1 km perimeter (irregular pentagon). So i started jogging for the shorted side of the pentagon, then walk the remaining. Like this i started with 3 rounds and went up to 6 rounds. Slowly i tried jogging alternate short sides and walking remaining sides. I could! Surprised again!  So this i achieved in some 3-4 weeks.. I used to look forward for sunrise so that i could go for walking.

Now, i missed out an important turning point in my Eating habits! I had once attempted the so called GM diet and failed miserably on end of Day 1. This was some 2-3 years back. Never had the courage to attempt it again! Anyway now that i am experimenting many things with fitness, i thought i will give this a try. So started the GM diet one fine day and surprisingly, i was amazed with my will power to carry it through all the 7 days. I really lost 3 kgs with this. Now, am a person who goes around and tell friends what i am up to. In such a conversation, one of my colleagues said that his wife has a book which says GM diet is not something which a person should try and all the weight you lose through GM diet you will gain back. So, now i thought “Challenge Accepted!” I am a great fan of Barney Stinson of the How i Met your Mother fame.  The struggle began to not gain back the lost weight.

Coming back to the book (my colleague couldn't name it , when he suggested it to me) ! The books name was “Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight”. Now this interested me in couple of ways. The author of this book, Rujuta Diwekar is Kareena Kapoor’s dietitian  And there are hell lot of fitness books which are floating around in this world. So you never know whether this is one of them or not.

Since i dint have any better things to do, started reading this book! Believe me, any person who is in a state of weight loosing mind and who has done similar kind of attempts like me and who has a very less confidence on the success of weight loss path, should READ this.  The principles are straight and amazingly true. Best part of it , you won’t get bored reading this book!. And, she succeeds in convincing you to try the methods that she has learnt. I love this book and i suggest this to anyone who is into a weight loss regime. This Helps!

Back to GM diet! The Day 4, asks you to live on 8 bananas and 3 cups of milk (no sugar added). I had never drank milk without sugar in my lifetime. But this time, i attempted it. I COULD. I seriously couldn't believe! And till date, i still drink milk without sugar.  This is a LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT for me!  Without boring you further, at the end of June, i had successfully lost 3 kgs and didn't gain it back!   

See you all in next post!  So i am at little less than 80kgs. 

History!

I was always on the heavier side of the scale from childhood.

Attempt 1:

My first getting healthier attempt was in the year 2003. I used to walk 45 mins daily in the morning in Bangalore even in winter and used to live on oats, rotis without oil ,vegetables and fruits. Lost around 8-9 kgs in 3 months. This was my first achievement in this  sport. But then i left it there...Got married and gave birth to my son. Suddenly i realized that i have reached the 88 mark of my metric weighing scale. 

Attempt 2:

Started doing regular cardiovascular exercises for  45 mins on 5/7 days a week and this continued for 11 months. Lost  17 kgs in 11 months. I used to control food in the conventional way of not eating fried food, not eating rice in night etc. By the end of this i got stones in my gall bladder and later that year got a typhoid which affected my gall bladder which got removed from my body! Yup, am a person with one organ less!! :)

This made me stop all my gym activities and mostly ended up in sedentary lifestyle. This was in year 2008.

In year 2010, i made a new year resolution that i will do my bit in my weight loss and fitness journey. So in order to make this a perfect start i along with 2 other friends of mine, went for a 10 km walk...First of its kind in my life time. Achieved it in 2 hrs 30 mins.. I was so impressed.
In order to encourage me, one of my well wishers promised me a reward of 8 gms of Gold( a metal which i was crazy about).  However, it so happened that i never did any kind of planned activities for rest of that year and even until second half of 2011.

Attempt 3:
I changed my job during the year 2011. So i thought it is right time to start my efforts again on the subject. Started with walking 40 mins at 10 PM (yes, 10 PM. that was the time i could allocate for my well being) everyday... This, i couldn't sustain for long. I even started replacing 2 meals of mine with weight management full meal replacements... However, this lasted for 2-3 months with no regularity in the routine. Absolute wasted attempt of time and money.

Attempt 4:
I am on an assignment in Sydney and not with family. I used to feel lonely and depressed when my dad and son left back to India. Then in the month of June 2012, i started searching ways to keep away my loneliness as well as the things that will keep me happy. Thus starts the Attempt 4 and the success of it so far..... Weight on 1-June-12 : 83 kgs

I am ending this post here and will continue with the narration in the next post!