Yes! I am still Alive!

Well, I have been pretty busy these days with my very close friend Z leaving for Houston and then changing my visa which is still in process. For those who feel my pain and are familiar with the extremely excruciating visa process and the ten thousand documents they ask for, ya'll know how frustrating it can be! I have cheated a few times and got myself some treats. I have eaten out but been careful with what I eat. I ate out at a famous catfish place but opted for the blackened catfish (skillet roasted) instead of the famous fried catfish!
Ok, I indulged in a chocolate cobbler after that!
We have been steaming fish a lot these days. My Chinese friend taught me the art of a simple and decilious steamed fish topped with some fresh ginger, green onion and Chinese dark vinegar and some sugar! This has been one of our favorite dishes and we eat it along with some steamed or stir fried greens or a huge salad!
I am still 6kgs down thankfully! I have to renew my gym membership again and start different workouts. I may try and do some weights as well as only cardio seems to have kinda stagnated my weight!
The goal is by December 2, 2013 I should be another 5-7kgs lighter! Yeah baby steps is what it's all about!

Back from Hibernation!

Hello!! Yes I am back after almost a month. I need to seriously do something about being better at updating this blog. Well the good news is I am still eating healthy and trying to get some exercise. We have not walked for almost 10days now due to me being unwell for few days and post that hubby having to work late. We have decided to restart tomorrow onwards for sure. Hubby is good at waking up early and if I have someone to wake me up I am up in the morning and ready for my 1hr walk. Did I mention we walk 5miles everyday. ;)
Now the weight has kind of stagnated. I seem to be down another lb but it is super slow.  Well I had anticipated that and have plans of working out twice a day, walk in the am and maybe gym in the afternoon or early evening around 4 or 5pm.
I have been exploring breakfast options from boiled eggs, wheat cereal, multi-grain toast with whipped cream cheese, Belvita blueberry breakfast biscuits (yes they are super yummy) etc. I also made poha, an Indian breakfast made with beaten rice and made dosa this morning (Indian crepes/pan cakes, made rice and split black lentils).
I have been eating salad for lunch or soup while hubby prefers a multi-grain bread sandwich with boiled chicken, avocado etc. and for dinner we have been having a piece of grilled fish or chicken and a salad or roasted veggies. This week onwards I am going to start making some Indian dishes like vegetable stir fry, sprouts etc. and serve with whole wheat roti (Indian tortilla). We have completely cut down on rice and that is a big change for us, esp. for the mister.
Yes! I am going ahead and saying it finally the key is a combination of diet and exercise. Nothing else works. I have tried Rasberry Keytones, Green coffee beans,slimming teas, advocare and the list goes on. Finally it has dawned upon me - there is no shortcut to weight loss or being healthy.
I have finally turned wise, guess its the age!

Breakfast Blues!!

I am not a morning person at all and I don't really care about breakfast. I can start my day with just a cup of tea and go on till lunch just fine. Only if there is breakfast made and ready will I indulge in it and sometimes I don't like to eat when I wake up.
As decided the hubby and me have started walking at 6.30am for an hour and yes I have been waking up by 6.10am. I go to bed by 11pm. This is a huge challenge for me and a big deal but I am doing this as finally it has dawned upon me that I am 30 years old and now only going to get older so I have to treat my body right. Also now I have company, so no more excuses!
K eats breakfast everyday he wakes up at 6 and likes to have his cup of coffee, then  read the news and take it easy and make a good breakfast for himself, while I will wake up an hour before I have to be at work and rush through a shower, tea etc. till I get in my car and start driving. Now that I wake up early I have started eating breakfast. I like to drink tea so I make tea for myself and I have short listed boiled eggs as  a quick and healthy fix for me. I can just boil them while I am in the shower and they are ready when I am out. I eat 2 boiled eggs but discard 1 yolk so 2 boiled egg whites and 1 yolk. I love the yolk so I save that one yolk for myself. I guess 1 yolk is not that bad, I will try to eat only boiled egg whites but that may take some time.
I did eat dosa the other day as hubby was making it for us, I had mine very thin, crisp with no oil on a non stick pan with some green chutney (made with cilantro, ginger and mint) and didn't go for the potato bhaji.
I have been told by everyone and read up on the benefits of breakfast and how essential it is in the diet. I must admit that at times by lunch I am starving and end up eating a lot if I skip breakfast. Now that I have included this healthy habit in my diet guess I am going the right way.
The only thing I haven't got used to is eating oats and fruit. I have tried but oats make me gag I can eat a few spoons and then I am done. I need to have a variety of breakfast food to make it healthy and interesting. I have tried boiled eggs, egg whites and spinach omelet, 1 whole grain toast with weight watchers whipped cream cheese, cereal, Indian breakfast items like dosa, poha, idli, upma etc.
I am looking up recipes all the time for new healthy breakfast items. I want to cut out the bread from breakfast and any oily fried stuff.
The diet and work out plan is looking good so far and I finally mustered up the courage to weigh myself again and I am still 10lbs down ;) so that was a huge motivational factor in walking in the am!

Apologies for being a Slacker!!

Sorry I have been a big time slacker. My sis was visiting us for 4 days so we had to make the most of it. She was here all the way from India so I had to abandon my diet and walking for few days. My sis is not a foodie and is very healthy and in great shape. Wish I had the determination and will power like her, guess that is not genetic ;)
Well she left on Thursday of last week and we are back on track with our diet and started our walks too. We were tired of eating out and a simple home cooked meal which was baked fish and veggies was irresistible. I marinate fish with Indian spices and marinate some chopped veggies like tomatoes, onions, potatoes, green peppers and onion and place the fish on top of the veggies and bake it for few minutes. This is really simple and tasty.
I have not checked my weight yet, actually I am dreading to get on that scale. I don't want to see if 1 week of being a slacker has had its toll on my body. I dread that I have put on the 10lbs I lost or some of it. I don't want to know. I will check my weight in 2 weeks. Hopefully I will have lost some weight if not more atleast I will still be 10lbs down.
We have decided to change the time of our workout. We will be doing it early mornings tomorrow onwards at 6.30am. I know it is going to be super tough on me as I am not a morning person at all. My mornings start only after 8.30am but I will give it a try. Hubby wants to swim and work out at that time so he can spend the whole day working and get home by 7pm and we can have an early dinner go to bed early. Well, I am ready for this new challenge.
Things we have to go through to undo what we put our bodies through. 30+ years of stuffing my face with what I loved (which obviously was in no remote way healthy!!) and here I am today trying to undo all that. Well atleast I have become aware and determined in some ways.
I am supposed to visit India this December for a wedding in the family and I hope to be atleast 30lbs down or more by then.
"I am not going to be a SLACKER!!" I need to repeat this 10 times a day today onwards.

Couples Therapy!

Ah! I know I am not good at keeping up with the blog but I am trying my best trust me. Well, sitting in my office I listen to people all day, issues with their partners, parents, depression, anger, anxiety, couples quarrel, you name it and I have heard it! Let me tell you couples therapy is not easy as it looks, when you have two adults with you in a room and both believe their way is the right way, there is no room for a third person!
Well, I love my clients and my job its rewarding in its own little ways! Once a client asked me "you listen to all our problems all day who do you go to when you are upset?" I thought for a minute and said my husband, family and friends of course. Once the client left I realized I crib a lot only to my husband and poor K takes in all but surely he will show me the mirror (I mean the logical and rational side) every time I go overboard!
We both are working towards our weight loss goal and let me remind you again its better when you have company during your weight loss journey as it is not an easy one! We both keep each other motivated to eat healthy and work out. We have been walking a lot and he has been swimming and I am doing Zumba.
He sometimes will go on a walk by himself and today he asked me to go with him to the trails he walks. It was beautiful and so relaxing and fresh. The path had few small trees with fragrant flowers which made the walk even better. Needless to say, I kept talking for 60 minutes during the 75min walk. After a point I realized I talk non-stop and how does this guy take it all? I asked him and he simply said "well, I don't talk much so you compensate for me. I like listening to you (at times, lol)
I must admit I enjoy these walks it is a great work out (due to the miles and the slopes in between) and I get to spend some quality time with hubby and talk without taking a breath! It's therapeutic for me!
Do get a buddy or your better half to join you on your workouts or walks, it really helps. You both can walk together and if you choose to go to the gym you don't have to hang out together. He/She can do cardio while you do the weights or you can be in the gym while he/she is swimming!
Try this simple couples therapy, you will enjoy it for sure!
Find out what is therapeutic for you alone or as a couple in this busy world.

Spring Cleaning for weightloss!

I am not so regular with updating the blog but ofcourse I am still going strong with my weight loss regime! I am walking 4 times a week atleast and doing Zumba once a week still. Eating home cooked low calorie meals and if I go out to eat I ensure I avoid fried or anything oily. Replace a side of fries with salad and of course no more sweet tea or soda just plain water... if I feel like drinking soda I go for club soda which has 0 calories. Please stay away from diet drinks as they contain too much sugar substitute and they are not good for you.

My sister is visiting us so I am excited but sad that its just for four days. We both decided to clean the apartment and to our surprise we had lots of cleaning to do. We are on day two and haven't even finished a room. Not that we have a huge apartment its a two-bedroom but then we had saved a lot of crap like papers, magazines, empty cardboard boxes, old clothes, shoes etc. etc.

Cleaning is a good work out! When you squat instead of sitting on the floor and while you are standing tuck your tummy in it feels great. Then you want to get to those corners with your vacuum stretch, stretch a little more!

Then you have to get to those little dust particles under your couch, tables etc. again go for it tuck your tummy in and stretch your arms from the waist! While you clean the ceiling corners also work on those legs keep stretching and lifting them towards your stomach.

One more tip is when you tuck your tummy in don't hold your breath but do it like you would when you are wearing a tight pair of jeans/pants (only the lower portion of your tummy). So when you hold your tummy in you must be able to have a conversation without any effort, like you normally do.

And when you have so much to clean like we do which is going to take a week you automatically work your back, arms, legs and abs with all the cleaning and lifting without any effort and you are so exhausted by the end of it that you will crash and have a good night's sleep.

Note: when you clean your house and you are on a diet and can't get take out just defrost fish/chicken and marinate it and put it in the oven. You can pair it with some steamed veggies or just roast some broccoli,peppers,onions,sweet potato,zucchini etc. in the oven as well. There you go, you have a healthy meal ready when you are done with your cleaning and you don't even have to watch it when it's cooking.

Something Fishy!!

Fish has been a savior for me while I am dieting. I love fish and it can be grilled, baked, fried (which I am avoiding ofcourse) or made into a curry with any veggies or even steamed.
I have been trying to eat lot of fish instead of chicken or red meat. I don't miss red meat at all nor do I miss chicken, atleast for now.
So I made pan grilled salmon and grilled some onions with it and served it with quinoa salad. It was very tasty and filling.
Today I cooked pomfret hirwa masala/fish in green curry (pomfret or pompano is a firm white fish which is delicious). The best part is I made the hirwa masala without anything fattening except for 1 tsp olive oil which I needed to fry the onions and tomatoes. I used spinach instead of coconut to give the curry a good texture. I served it with multigrain chapati's.
The meal was delicious and I was greedy for more. I had to stop myself as I have obviously realized anything in excess is not good. Well, I did eat an extra piece of pomfret I couldn't stop myself trust me I tried. I guess it's not bad as it was cooked in the curry so wasn't fried.
You can find the recipe here http://mykitchenshenanigans.blogspot.com/2013/04/fish-hariyalihirwa-masala.html

Hope the road to losing weight doesn't get monotonous and I am determined and honest.
I walk regularly but I guess I need to increase the intensity of my workout like start running or include some zumba or cardio in my routine as well.