Exercise...how to start loving it!

Exercise is a word that I hated for the first 20 years of my life. Hence, I am not surprised when most folks express the same sentiment about it - some say they don't have time, some say they don't have motivation and some say it outright that they don't like it. Politically incorrect thing to say in this fitness focused age but at least they are being honest!

It's important to recognise this feeling that you don't like or don't want to work out. To be honest who wants to do anything that feels like work? And there lies the source of all problems - we (read adults) have a way of taking fun out of everything including simple pleasures of life like walking or running by calling it work!

Remember how much we used to run as kids in flip flops? I can recall  leaving home at 8 am and not coming back till 8 pm during the summer vacations. All caked in mud and dirt - so much so that my father used to hose me down in the garden before letting me inside the house! This is how much I used to love being outside - cycling, climbing trees, playing games that required lot of sprinting and crouching in weird positions for hours during hide & seek. Never thinking of it as work but getting workout just the same!!!

But as I grew older and started gaining weight, it wasn't just because of my eating habits, it was also because I wasn't spending as much time outdoors. I would study/ work whole day and then watch TV to relax. Walking, however, was a big part of my life as I mostly used public transport to go to school/ college/ work. And then I bought a car and there went my last bit of chance to get some kind of physical activity. Within a few years, my fitness levels were so low that I couldn't walk 500 meters without complaining and even one flight of stairs used to feel like climbing up a hill. All this when I was just 25 years old!!!

The day I realised that my lack of fitness is in fact stopping me from enjoying my life, I decided to do something about it. I started with activity that I really enjoy and one that is easier on joints and muscles - swimming. It was definitely hard to look at myself in swimsuit - so out of shape I was but I stuck with it. A few days later I added walking to my routine, a few weeks later I also started playing squash...and the best part of it all? Nothing felt like exercise...I enjoyed every bit of these activities and slowly pounds started to come off and my fitness levels improved dramatically. And today, I am known as endorphin junkie - I am total b***h till I have had my endorphin fix of the day, i.e., my workout!

So how did someone who hated exercise and would cringe at the very mention of the word, fell in love with it? Simple...I don't do anything that I don't like. For instance, I hate gyms - they feel claustrophobic, people don't clean up machines after them and running on treadmill is boring! So what do I do? I run outside, I swim, I hike....I also get bored of doing the same thing everyday, so I shake things up - I do HIIT some days and weights some other days and of late I have adding boxing and sports conditioning to it.

Now let's say that there is absolutely no physical activity that you like to do or say that you have absolutely no time to work out/ exercise. Does it mean that you can't be fit? No...there still are ways to get fitter without devoting time to a physical activity. How? Simple...stop taking elevator, start parking the car farther, don't take the car out if your destination is within 2-3 km radius,  have fun with your kids in the swimming pool, run/jog with  them when they are cycling...the list is endless

Yes, first time you climb 4 floors or even 2, you will wonder why you are doing it but slowly it will get easier and one thing no one know.....getting fitter is like getting a high...the fitter you get, the fitter you want to be and your fitness goal becomes a moving target.

So...take the first step today, leave that smart phone behind or take it with you if you are so addicted to it but instead of sitting and talking, start walking and talking - watch the kids playing, watch the antics of the dogs being walked, see how the senior citizens are gathered and having fun, see how that toddler is enjoying the swing...trust me you will start liking to walk very soon :)

Eating Plan for weight loss

An eating plan is nothing else but as the name suggests a plan to eat in the fashion that would allow you to meet your fitness goals. But do not confuse this with a diet chart. All diets have following characteristics in common:

• There is a long list of foods that you can not eat
• There is a limited list of foods that you can eat
• They are monotonous - breakfast looks same every day, so do lunches and dinners

In nutshell, diets are designed to fail because  the moment we are told not to eat something, we want only that. Plus monotony is the biggest reason anything fails and diet is equally susceptible to failure due to monotony.

An eating plan differs from diet in all of the areas above. An eating plan is about managing your calories count and key nutrient groups (carbohydrates, protein, fat, sugar and fiber) in such a way that you meet your weight and/or fitness goals. For instance, if your want to lose weight, the key focus area would be a limiting calories and ensuring a balance across carbs, proteins and fats. However, if your goal is to build muscle, then we eat more protein and limit carbohydrates in the diet while eating back your exercise calories.

Now you are wondering, how much reduction in calories do I need? and what the hell is this "eating back" of exercise calories. And by the way, how does one measure calories?

First and foremost, you need to determine what is the daily calorie intake that you need to maintain your weight. This is called BMR or Basal Metabolic Rate. There are many sites online that allow you to calculate that. Just Google and determine your BMR. All it requires is basic information like gender, age, weight and height.

Next step is determining how many calories do you currently eat in a day. There are many apps for same - I use myfitnesspal. It has the largest food database and you simply log in what you ate throughout the day and you would know your calories consumption and the breakup cross nutrient groups.

If you want to lose weight, your calorie consumption should be lesser than BMR and vice versa. If you want to maintain weight, the two numbers should be same...simple, isn't it? It gets a bit complex when your goals are not just about weight. However, for now lets just stick to weight loss as the goal.

Now you know how many calories you need to maintain your weight and how many are you actually eating. And if you are not losing weight its obvious that latter is more than former. Next step is fixing this equation - and that's where you decide the fix. If you are eating 1800 calories a day and your BMR is 1400 to stay at my current weight then you need to first bring 1800 down to 1400. How to do that? Simple...look at your food log/diary and see the items that you can easily cut...for instance, you can reduce chapatti count or instead of having both dal (lentils) and vegetables - have only one of the items or replace the sugar in your tea or coffee with sweetener.

This approach to calorie reduction has two benefits - one, it's not a generalized solution (aka diet) that doesn't take into account your tastes and needs. Two, you have the freedom to play with the solution - you can add something back next week because you sorely miss it and drop something else instead. All you need to do is stay at 1400 calories (in this example). As long as you do that, you will lose weight!

This approach also allows a little more play room as against a diet - if you overate one day, make up for it by eating lesser next 2 days...average at 1400 calories a day across the week. Do settle accounts on a weekly basis!!!  I even use this in reverse, I build up the calorie deficit by eating a little lesser during the week and come weekend, I have enough deficit to party and have fun.

Sometimes I use the above principle during the day also, if I know I have to eat out in evening, I eat lesser during the day and keep the surplus for the evening dinner. However, I usually refrain from consuming too many calories in the night because if done often it can cause weight gain even if you are under your limit. This is because you don’t need that much energy while sleeping and calories consumed at night will end up getting stored even though you didn’t eat too much during the day. Also if you regularly eat less during the day, when you actually need energy, you can permanently reduce your metabolic rate. So use this technique rarely.

Now that we have brought calorie intake down to BMR, next step is create a deficit, because intake equal to BMR means maintaining weight. To lose weight, we need a deficit. It can be done in two ways. You can increase your calorie expenditure by exercising and/or you can further reduce the intake. If you have a lot of weight to lose, my suggestion is to do both, i.e., bring down the calorie intake below BMR and also do some exercise. The caveat being that don't bring your calorie intake below 1200, as after that your metabolic rate starts to slow down and that's not good for your weight and your fitness in the long run.

In summary, to lose weight create a calorie deficit by eating lesser than  your BMR and/or working out but don't eat lesser than 1200 calories a day!

Diet - A Four-Letter-Word!

As far back as I can remember, I have had only love and hate relationship with food. Whenever I have gained weight it has been because of foods I love and I have always hated dieting - though I have been through numerous crazy diets in last two decades of my life!

One of my early diets consisted of coffee (w/ milk) for breakfast, raw (no dressing) salad with a toast for lunch & dinner and a fruit for snack. I have also done protein shake diets, variety of low carb diets, GM (7 day) diet, raw foods diet (fruits, nuts and milk), only one kind of food a day diet - you name it. In my quest to lose weight and get fit, I have left no stone unturned in my bid to find that perfect weight loss diet. And the findings?

There exists no such diet! Most diets that yield results, in short term, fail in long term because its not easy to give up any one element of food for life. And diets that take longer to show results...well most of us don't have patience to stick to them! 

So what is the solution...considering while exercise is needed for fitness, it is not the main ingredient of a successful weight loss recipe? A good eating plan is extremely important for shedding pounds. Yes that's the key - a good eating plan - not a diet. Diet truly is a four-letter-word! 

So whats the difference between the two? Many:

• First and foremost a good eating plan ensures that your love/ hate relationship with the food will give way to a healthy and balanced relationship. 
• Two - a good eating plan allows you to make smarter food choices while allowing you to occasionally indulge in those sinfully delicious foods. 
• Last but not the least a good eating plan is something that will stay with you rest of your life - you will never have to diet again!!!

I am sure now you are wondering when is she going to show us an eating plan? How will it look different from a diet. In my next post I would share details of how to move away from a diet to an eating plan based on your fitness goals.

How I live a complete life inspite of Fibromyalgia

After 8 long years of managing my own pain and through online research, I have arrived at following 6 steps that have made me fitter and stronger than ever before -  

1. Accept the situation - this pain is here to stay!!! You can increase it by fighting it mentally or you can manage it to such an extent that you won't even remember it most days (except seasonal or exertion/stress related flare ups)

 

2. Stretch and strength muscles through yoga, body weight exercises and free weights.

 

3. Feed your body natural food, natural water, natural light and natural sleep. Stop processed foods, stop soda, have lots of water, sleep on time & get up with sun rise.

 

4. Meditate to calm our hyperactive nerves down and reduce pain sensation.

 

5. Remove things that increase the pain - it can be wrong desk, wrong posture, wrong people, wrong habits. Anything

 

6. Don't indulge in self pity. We are not invalids. Millions of people have it...we are not alone in this pain. Join online support communities, reach out to others and learn about how they manage their pain.