Holidays and New Years!

Nothing puts new years resolutions in focus like holiday noshing! Decadent food equals guilt run amok.
After all, that freshly baked cookie goes right to you know where......
Just the right nudge you need to get thinking about the coming year. I prefer to drill down to my resolutions by visualizing my goals. How do I want my life to look 6 months into the year, how do I want my life to look by the end of the year. This visualization includes my look, my health, my financial health, my family, my career etc in random order.

I visualized what my fitness level should look like a 4 months out, 6 months out and so on. Fitness also serves to achieve my goal look for the next year. This vision in my head is very exciting! I love the way I look. I love the clothes I will be wearing, the bags I will carry and generally how fabulous I will look!

Find me on Polyvore

I cannot wait to get to work! I have created polyvores of my looks and pinned them on my inspiration board.

My fitness goals are really simple.....workout six days a week; play a game and do whole lot more yoga. Simple and straightforward. Nothing really complicated.

And I am not waiting for 2010 to work on it! Life starts now!

I just have to say!

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Love Life!

Ok, I have been away for a looong while! But I am back! Truth be told, fitness was sidelined for a while as the mundane life got in the way. But now I am back on the bandwagon and roaring to go.

I am loving life right now! I have finally crystallized my vision of life! I have a map for my life and it feels really good! I have a "to do" list, for my life, my health, for my day even. A list of my dreams, wants and should haves. The list encompasses things I need to do for my health, my beauty, my style and spiritual nourishment. A list of books I need to read, a list of organizations that need my time and/or money and on and on. The list of people who need our help is enormous. I am getting right on with it.


I want to live a life of style and substance. Maybe I should write SUBSTANCE. That's right, "substance" is what I am about nowadays. Style without substance is an empty shell.

Right now, the mood is serene, calm! Cannot wait to get to my to do list, my vision for my life.

I WANT...........

OMG. I really really want these.


How fun are they! I can jump and jump and jump, and go on jumping.




I need to go to Chicago downtown Bally's for this class.





See here:

Ouch!

This is a grumble post. My shins hurt like nobodies business. I think I am wearing wrong shoes.

But sensitive shins is also something that I inherited from my mom! Thank you mother!

It is also one of the reasons I hate running. Running has never been my thing. I love the variation and the challenge of aerobics.

If there really are vampires................

I am sure I will be the first one they suck blood out of!

I swear, no kidding, but I am damn attractive to "biters" and "suckers". My blood calls them.

I don't know why yet.

(Ahem, Mr. Toothy, there is something stuck between your teeth!)

Wherever I go, whatever I do, if there are bugs or skeeters around they will come to me to feed.

I walk around outside, I get bitten, I am sitting on my patio, I get bitten. I am minding my own business, I get bitten. I am NOT minding my own business, I Still get bitten. Whats up with that eh?
Couple of weeks ago A and I were at the club with our friends, looking over a lovely blue swimming pool...the air full of lovely pool-y chlorine-y smell ( how refreshing). There we were, having fun, drinking our beer ( tall mocha for me), eating curly fries, people gently swatting away flies and bees and me keeping a keen eye out for those hovering around me and WHAM one of the nasty critter bites me! Of all the people around, it finds me, not anyone else. I have a welt for two whole days. Fun scratching!

So that's the story of my life people. When I go for a walk, often I walk with flies. I have a black halo around me. So sometimes I break into sprint to outrun the flies. Then I have peace of mind till another swarm forms around me and its sprint time again!

I have clue, and I hate to whine.....BUT WHY ME?

I did so me quick research online and came up with all mumbo jumbo answers about body chemistry. Nothing concrete, nothing scientific. But atleast I found out that there are some people out there like me who get bit by anything when everyone else around them does not even notice that there are bugs around. I do not feel so alone anymore.

Now on the other hand if Edward wants to bite me..... here Edward....right here......see my pulse... see how the skin is soft....easy for you to dig in.......go on right ahead........

Fitnatic

P.S: I also have a story about birds, but that's for another day.

Fitness Fridays

Wow, its already friday! This day has been a lot of fun so far and just a hint to things to come this weekend!

Friday morning saw me doing aerobics class plus lower body blast plus a 10 minute high intensity blast. Soooo good. I feel absolutely fabulous. What do I feel like?!? I feel like a sexy gal with toned sexy thin thighs! Oh yeah......

Who cares if it is only in my mind so far? Who cares if my thighs are still thundering? I feel fab that's all that matters. Right? :)

This weekend is going to be a-fre--aaa-kking FABULOUS!

Tomorrow morning ofcourse starts with some ass-kicking workout, then some shopping while A works out at Ballys. Then its off to lunch at this really awesome seafood place for some delicious lobster. Oh man, this place has the most awesome bread EVAH. These buns literally drown in butter. So am I going to be a bad girl and eat as many as I can? YES OFCOURSE
Who can resist that bread? That is going to be my one indulgence for the day!
Wait..........no not really! There is cake consumption somewhere in there...........

We have a birthday party to attend Saturday evening. This baby-girl is as cute as they ever come, more scrumptious than chocolate cake dripping in fresh cream chocolate icing. Yes!

Ha, so make that two indulgences...not counting all that lobster and party food.

Hmmmm, putting this all down here is making me realize that it is indeed going to be an over the top day for gluttony. All that great food, plus shopping plus awesome company of close friends.... and a movie tonight.

Methinks I am cramming too much fun in a single day. Now I am seriously thinking about breaking it up and leaving some fun out for some other weekend.
Maybe lobster lunch can be had some other weekend. Not a bad idea. I am sure A will be on board with it.

Sunday is going to be lazy lazy end to the week. I am going to be all my myself almost throughout the day. So the day is going to be spent replanting, planting even more yummy herbs and flowers and an afternoon spent browsing at Barnes and Noble with my favorite cup of joe.

Aaaah, sublime!

Happy Hump day!

Yayyy, we are half way through the week. For some reason I think that this week is going really reaaly quickly.....wait...I know exactly why...........because I am reading up on lotsa fitness blogs and getting excited about following other peoples fitness journeys.

Now most of them do not follow my modified Paleo diet, but it will take some time for the masses to get enlightened right? hehe

So happy hump day everyone and happy reading to me.

Terrific Tuesdays

I have decided that I will post about my workout for the day and the food that I had for lunch or dinner. As long as the food looks appetizing and I remember to take apic before I devour it, I will post it. :) Who needs to see pics of unappetizing diet food? LOL

Tuesday started well with aerobics class and extra lower body workout. Boy, are my glutes talking to me or what! hehe I feel so damn good about my workout today. :)

Lunch was super delicious........salmon marinated in lime juice and seasoned with a mix of cajun and jerk seasoning. Super delicious and super easy. Takes about 20 minutes tops. With it some roasted veggies ( just toss them in the oven with the salmon), some potato bhaji and a glass of V-8. Yummmy.

Jeans...oh yes

Okay, I have to be honest here. I do not really stick to my routine outlined in the column on the right. It is there to motivate me though and it does its job! I work out about 4 -5 days out of 7 Not good but not bad. What can I say I am bad that way.

BUT, BUT, BUT(T), my jeans are fitting looser. woohooo

Fitnatic.

30 Day Shred?

I have heard/read good stuff about Jillian Michaels 30 day shred. I like the fact that it had 3 level build-up. But what does one do after the 3rd level? Continue exercising at that level?

I wonder how good it is a helping with weight loss?

Cross-training shoes! A search...

I had been pretty inconsistent with my workouts. Some days I just did not manage to get enough exercise in. Some days I got in a very good workout.

But, I HAVE been working out pretty diligently latley and can already feel it in my muscles. :)

As I have mentioned before, I love doing Barry's bootcamp. I love the convenience factor above anything else. I do not have to drive 15 miles to get to Bally's. Just pop in a DVD and I get in a good workout.

My one complaint right now is that I do not have good cross training shoes. Right now I wear running shoes for my workouts, and let me tell you, they are NOT working for me. In fact, they suck big time. I am a over pronator and bought shoes that correct that. But boy was I worng! These shoes are so corrective that they make me underpronator! SHEESH

So I am looking for shoes that give good support for my pronation problem and are designed for aerobics/crosstraining type of workout!

Searching.....Seraching.......

Disappointments and a Fresh start!!

Okay, the last few days have been disappointing to say the least. The event that I hoped will take place did not happen much to mine and A's despair. Oh well, life goes on!

Now I am all ready and set to give my 100% to life tweaks and changes. So on with daily exercise and sugar and wheat free lifestyle!

Fitnatic

Eating plan

I am still finding the best balance in diet for me. I simply do not subscribe to zero carb diet. I think it has many many pitfalls atleast for me. For one, I do not eat any meat beyond chicken, fish and occasional goat meat. I hate all other kinds of meat. SO with that in mind a zero carb diet will be very limited for me.

Having said that, my goal is ti still eliminate wheat and limit other grains. I love daal-chaval with a dollop of ghee in it. Yummy. The trick for me will be finding the correct balacne between carbs/proteins and fats FOR ME.

I have insulin resistance as evidenced by PCOS. So, I need to reset my insulin sensitivity. Currently doing reasearch on the optimal diet to achieve that. I can do zero carbs for a few days, not more. Hopefully I can resert my sensitivity with couple of weeks of that. I am still reading about this optimal diet to reset insulin sensitivity because I think that the last time I did do phase one of South Beach diet for couple of weeks, it did not help me at all. SO I am not sure that following that plan will indeed reset my insulin sensitivity. I hope to find a solution soon.

The paleolithic trials ( blogged about my Stephan and Dr. Eades) show significant improvement in insulin levels over just 10 days of Paleo diet with significant amount of high fructose in form of fruits.
The trial results are very heartnening. Although it is still pretty low carb ~ what with meat being main ingredient of a meal, it is something that I might be able to try.

I am already on a form of Paleo diet~ no wheat (mostly) low grains and more protein and fat. so far I have not seen any change in my fitness profile. Its disheartening, but I must remember that I also ate quite a bit of chocolate and nuts like peanuts and almonds. I know nuts make me gain weight. Also cause acidity in my stomach. Have to stay away from them. I will write more about my diet as I go. It will be mostly trial and error kinda diet for sure.

Many changes will take place in the next couple of weeks. If things turn out the way I fervently hope they would, then I have to take a serious look at my diet.

In the meanwhile, I will go and lurk on Matt's fabulous blog. Stephan also has ongoing discussion on how to eat grains properly~ somehting that I am really looking forward to.

Fitnatic

Well laid plans.....

@#$@#$@ I am sick sick sick of this lingering cold! Oh my god! I have cold since first day of February. Go away already!

Fitnatic

Failure day!

Slow day today! Trying to read up on lot of my favorite blogs on Paleo diet and nutrition. Have to give shout out to Stephan for his great blog. He seems extremely reasonable with his recommendations and does not come across as a fanatic compared to some of the others. Matt Stone is another one, but he confuses me a lot! :(

Breakfast was one hardboiled egg. Lunch was non-Paleo 6 inch tuna sandwich from subway. Throw in a few chips and some candy. Today is just not my day!

Feeling tired and lethargic. Is it because of the wheat bread in lunch? Hmmm not sure but an interesting propostion. Something to test out in future.

Plan for the rest of the evening: Barry's upper body bootcamp. Dinner will be yesterday's leftover salmon. I need to find some veggies to go with it.

Epic fail at limiting coffee to 2 cups. What can I say..way too cold and lethrgic ~ need a pick me up.

WOW, I am good at excuses.

Yesterday brekky was 2 boiled eggs. Lunch was a piece of grilled salmon ~ yummmy!

Epic failure later in the afternoon ~ ate chocolate ~ rich buttery chocolate and some dried sweetened cranberries. Oh well. One day at a time right?

Did Barry's boot camp in the evening with lower body workout added. Felt real good. :)

Note: I usually loose my appetite or feel less hungry after doing Barry's boot camp. It's a good thing right?
Dinner was a glass of cold rose milk with sugar..(.there I go again). But it really tamped down the heartburn I felt making its way up.

One good news: managed to limit coffee to 2 cups yesterday.

FITNATIC

The day so far

Its been a lousy start to the day. Its been more than a week and the cold won't go away. Thinking maybe its time to go see the good Doc. about it? runny nose, sneezing, coughing and blocked ears. The cold it seemed was on its way out till A came home Friday and passed on to me his allergens from Dallas. Oh well. Will try zyrtec today.

The things that get in the way of being caffeine free is the damn cold weather ( when will it end?) and the ongoing cold. A hot cup of joe seems too good to pass up. consequently consumed coffee twice already this morning. I take coffee this way ~ half a cup of organic 1% fat milk with some instant coffee and splenda. This is so anti- Paleo. But its an old habit which will take its time to overcome.

Another bummer~ ate some spicy chakali today. yumm ~ but grains and fried in vegetable oil. :(

Lunch will be eggs and stir fried quinoa. Will use peanut/olive oil combo for stirfry.

Dinner will be fish and veggies.

The Plan - Part 1

The plan is a total diet overhaul. I will loosely follow the Paleo path along with HIIT based exercises.

Why this particular path you ask? First of all, I agree with the principals outlined in the Paleo diet. Our bodies have evolved eating the paleo way over thousands of years. The highly processed food that we eat over the last few years have ruined our health.

Secondly, I am also insulin resistant as evidenced by my PCOS. So overal low carb diet makes that much more sense to me healthwise.

However, I am not going to go nuts and completley eliminate carbs or even drastically reduce them from my diet. There are multiple reasons for this: my body has evolved on the traditional diet of konkanastha brahmins or marathi diet over the last few thousand years. I cannot simply ignore that fact; secondly the marathi diet with emphasis on konkani diet is partially nutritionally sound except for that huge gaping hole- lack of animal based protein; thirdly I really like to eat simple marathi food and do not feel like I had lunch/dinner till I eat the way I was fed since a baby.

So I have decided to compromise and eat a blend of my traditional diet and Paleo based diet. The big no-no will be wheat. From the research I have done, wheat is THE worst food you can consume besides sugar. Which is a huge bummer because the main portion of my diet so far has been wheat. I live on wheat. Eliminating wheat is going to be a huge adjustment.

Okay confession time~~ I have "almost' eliminated wheat for the last two weeks and I am doing OK. But I know that like an addict, it is never far from my mind! Sighhhhh

The Begining

Yes, I am overweight right now! That is really difficult to admit for a former fitness fanatic who was awesomely fit. This blog will chronicle my journey towards being fabulous and healthy again!