Lets kill the extra pounds

First of all, I apologize for being away from this blog. Not that I have a large readership (sniff, sniff) but those of you who read my blog (thank you, thank you), I apologize for being away. Actually I have been on a strict diet and writing food posts or cooking or reposting old food pictures was making me very hungry. Therefore, I decided to take a break until I was able to handle my food cravings. Its not that I was over-weight or anything, but I was past my comfort zone and I dont like it when I am not happy with my body image. It was time to take some measures and lose a few pounds and basically go back to how I was a year ago. 

I have lost some weight, 4 kgs. Nah.... Just kidding, its actually 3.25 kgs but i like rounding it off to the upper limit (which is mathematically incorrect) to make myself feel better and motivate me to stick to this diet. In terms of inches, I have lost around the waist and overall too so basically this diet is working for me. I thought I should share it. You can tweak it to your liking but do follow it in general terms and try to get the hang of it. I promise that only the first few days will be difficult and then the sight of oily, fried, fatty, sweet stuff will make you cringe. Or at least, you wont stuff yourself with such food and will be able to stop yourself and control your over-eating habits. 

I have done three awesome things to myself these last two months. 

A. Light exercise: I have a treadmill at home and I must admit I had barely used it before I started this diet. I have been using it now at normal walking speed for half an hour everyday or every other day. My job requires me to stand for around 6 hours per day so I dont have a sit-in work routine (that counts as exercise too in my dictionary). Plus, instead of whatsapping my parents to talk to them (my room is on the first floor of the house and my parents' on the ground floor, please dont judge me, im lazy), I have been taking the stairs to go downstairs and talk to them in person. That means going up and down atleast 20 times in a day. And, well, thats about it.

Picture: Taken from web.

B. I have been using my fitness pal. Please make an account on it and log in your daily food intake and exercise routine. It will automatically calculate the calories you have taken and tell you when you are over-eating. You can set your target weight loss goal on it. There is an app too. Just check it out yourself. Its pretty easy to use.

C. Diet: As far as food is concerned, your goal should be taking less calories than your daily requirement or if you take equal calories, then burn them off through exercise. 

Here is my diet routine. 

1. Early morning when I wake up: A glass of warm to hot water with 1 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp honey, 1 cm long ginger root and 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Add all these when the water is still hot and let it sit for a little while while it becomes drinkable warm. Drink it on an empty stomach.

2. Breakfast: 4 tbsp bran flakes and skimmed milk. Tea with skimmed milk.

Picture: Taken from web.

Eat fruit like apples, oranges, berries if you feel hungry. No bananas. And dont over do it.

                                                                                     Picture: Taken from web.

3. Lunch: 1/2 chicken breast or 1/2 fish fillet or 1 medium size chicken leg piece (steamed or grilled, no oil, marinate with lemon juice, ginger garlic, salt and pepper), with fresh salad. Squeeze a lemon on the salad. You can also have 1/2 cup low fat yogurt. 

Picture: Taken from web.

Again, if you feel hungry later on, have some fruit. No bananas. Have tea or coffee if you want to. Better to have green tea. 

4. Dinner: Sauteed/roasted vegetables or vegetable soup (1-1.5 cup). Use very less olive oil. Be mild on the spices. I have been having vegetables like spinach, cabbage, capsicum, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, green onion etc. Try to have dinner by 7-8 pm. If you eat late, your body cant digest it properly. Also, dont add egg, potatoes, peas, corn, beans etc in the soup (or sauteed vegetables). Avoid all the starchy vegetables. 

Picture: Taken from web.

Have green tea half an hour before you go to bed at night.

MOST IMPORTANT: NO PASTA, RICE, WHEAT FLOUR (for flat bread/chapati) and PLAIN FLOUR is allowed in this diet. When you go to your normal routine after losing the weight you want, try to replace chapati or rice with as much salad as you can. By salad, i mean fresh salad with  no oils or mayonnaise. 

You can have a cheat day after every ten days. Cheat day means eating your regular food but dont over do it. Please. Avoid desserts.

Log in your daily diet+exercise on my fitness pal. I am sorry for not putting up my own food pictures but I promise to do so soon enough. Drink atleast 8 glasses of water daily. If you feel hungry, eat fruits (avoid bananas please).

Happy dieting. It is working for me and I hope it does for you too. Remember, the trick is to be consistent. You wont lose weight fast. Its a long process but good thing about this diet is that you lose weight in a healthy way.  :)