2 kids, half a dozen extra kilos left back with every pregnancy, I had a long way to go every time I stood on the weighing scale in the gym. Or every time I looked at myself in the mirror. Yes, I admit I wanted to look really slim. I wanted to NOT look like a mom of 2! Mean, selfish, call it whatever you want but I desperately wanted to shed the extra weight.
It’s not that I wasn’t working towards it. I was walking whenever I could, sweating it out in the gym on weekends regularly, an occasional swim and don’t forget I was on-the-go all through the day. 2 small kids, remember!
But there wasn’t much that was changing, despite 3 years of working out. The reason was obvious. I guess I had the “feeling” that I was working out whereas in reality, I wasn’t really sweating it out. It was either all too erratic or not intense or killer mistakes that I was making.
Read here to find all the mistakes I made while trying to lose weight.
#1 Cut down all meal sizes
I had these sudden surges that “ab to weight loose karne hi hai”. So I would cut down ALL meal sizes immediately. One paratha less for breakfast, roti instead of rice for lunch and again a roti less for dinner. To be true, my resolve never lasted beyond 5-6 days. I would be so tired feeling hungry at all times and bored eating same meals again and again. I mean it’s obvious that this is unsustainable.
#2 Inappropriate amount of exercise and not following up with proteins
One day too much, next day just a stroll for 10 minutes. Intense weekend workout in the gym, okay that ONE would count as appropriate exercise but then I made the mistake of not following that up with protein rich food. If you also happen to be doing this, then well there is more to worry about than just the stomach. While I should have eaten egg whites and low fat dairy products like Nestlé a+ slim milk and dahi, I celebrated my sweating out with a little weekend dessert, likes of a sizzling chocolate .
#3 Light Yoga for half hour
Well that definitely was not going to help me lose ANY weight unless that half hour was spent doing solely SuryaNamaskar. Half hour that too of light yoga or breathing exercise did just that. Made me feel lighter emotionally not physically.
#4 Working out on hungry stomach
I usually wake up feeling low on energy and my preferred choice would be to kickstart my day with a hot cup of masala chai. But that’s one habit that has been given up longtime back which means I wake up feeling quite lethargic everyday. Now when I go for workout immediately after waking up, my body has no store of carbs to fuel my workout and hence use up my muscle for energy which is something we DO NOT want. Muscle gives shape and definition to our body and we want the workout to lead to fat-loss and not muscle-loss. So I learnt that a light snack in the form of a fruit and few nuts is good to be taken prior to the workout.
But that was my case, maybe due to poor metabolism or thyroid. However do note that if you wake up energetic, you have enough stored carbs in your body to fuel your workout, break it down and lead to weight loss. So working out on an empty stomach will give you good results.
#5 No warm-up or cool-down with workout
Meant that I ended up with cramps and shoulder aches or soreness in knees. I felt more fatigued than usual on intense workout days which effectively made my workout less frequent that it needed to be. However, when I started following the 10 minute pre and post workout stretching rule, I did not end up with soreness and effectively went in for the workout more regularly.
#6 Many rounds of tea, could be coffee
I did give this up eventually, not particularly for weight loss but due to continuous bouts of acidity. In hindsight it was a big boon as I love my tea to be really sweet. I don’t know if you are aware but I am a really really bad case of sweet tooth. So it was not just tea, it was tea + biscuits, 4 to 5 of them at one go so that I could dip them and relish.
#7 Evening snack was killer
Reaching out for the 4pm snack was the biggest killer. The chaklis, bhujiyas and wafer packets all come out at that time, killing whatever few milligrams of weight I MAY have lost during the workout. So I made it a regime to snack but on low fat & tasty items like soups, sprouts with a sprinkle of bhujiyas, chaas and many more such snacks. Buts that’s something to talk about on another day.
#8 Eating those leftover bites from the kid’s plates
Ya right, its just a few bites, but imagine doing that 3 times a day, day after day for 2 kids. And it doesn’t help that kid’s food are butterier, cheesier and sweeter. These bites are usually in additional to our regular meals. An absolute NO.
So in short, zip your mouth, exercise the right amount i.e., 40 mins/day or more, supplement with appropriate proteins and low fat diet and DON’T repeat my mistakes.
Image courtesy : shutterstock
This article was first posted here
An Urban Nomadic 
1 Comment