Day 13 – Stepper

1 litre of water(immediately after waking up) – Done
Drank 3 litres for the day
Breakfast – oats with papaya
Two servings of fruits per day – papaya for breakfast and Guava as evening snack.
Weight – 125.7 lbs (57 kg)

At last I was able to do steps 🙂 I did for 20 mins including warm-up and then did lower body strengthening exercises and finished with stretching. Good thing about stepper is, I don’t have to go out. All together took 45 mins. First time in this 30-day commitment that I was able to spend 45 mins for exercise. Enjoyed every second of it 🙂

The below video is good for 20 min-low impact cardio.

Boiled Veggies with Mint-Spinach dip

I did this last Thursday as my hubby was interested to eat something exotic(mostly restaurant food), so I decided I will do something new which tastes good as well as healthy. I had lots of veggies in my fridge and ended up with this easy and simple recipe after a lot of internet searching.

For Veggies:
Cut the veggies of your choice into medium sized pieces. (I added cauliflower, broccoli, carrot in one batch and potato and beans in another batch as it will take little longer)

1. Bring the water to a boil in a pot.
2. Add desired amount of salt and some soy sauce.
3. Add Cauliflower, Broccoli and Carrots. Cook for 5-6 mins.
4. Use a strainer to take the veggies out.
5. With the remaining water, cook potato and beans for 10 -12 mins.
6. Place the veggies in a platter.

I stored the remaining water in the freezer to use it as stock for vegetable soup. It had a good flavor.

For Dip:

Ingredients:

10 cashews
Handful of spinach and half a handful of mint
1 tbsp of Olive oil
1/2 cup yogurt (you can substitute with greek yogurt or avocado)
1 Garlic clove peeled
1 tsp of lime juice
salt to taste

First grind cashew, spinach, mint, garlic and salt in a blender and then add yogurt, lime juice and olive oil and grind it once more. Your Dip is ready!!!

Inspired by: http://www.thegardengrazer.com/2013/04/creamy-cilantro-lime-dressing.html

Day 7, 8 , 9 , 10, 11 & 12

I was way too busy than any other days in the past weekend as my in-laws were here to visit Lily and Daisy. Lily enjoyed the most with her grand parents. She had lots and lots of chocolates 🙂 I believe I didn’t need any exercise on these days as I don’t remember sitting down much. I should have at least stretched to make sure that my legs don’t go stiff but I was too tired to think about it.

Anyways now the 1 litre of water immediately after waking up became a habit for me. I have not skipped in any of these days. And increased the total amount of water to 3 litres per day, hurray!!! One thing that I found is, I tend to eat when it is just thirst. So I became conscious whenever I felt thirsty and drank water immediately (I keep filling a one litre water bottle and have it in the living room or kitchen throughout the day). That’s how I increased the amount of water.

Eating almonds soaked overnight – forgetting most of the days even after keeping a reminder in my phone as I had to soak it previous night.

I had to skip my food plan in the weekend as it is necessary for me to cook exotic dishes(mostly meat) for my in-laws for all the three meals and it is way too difficult to convince my mom-in-law that oats is more healthy than the regular Indian breakfast (she is worried because I am breastfeeding and it is a belief that more you eat, more is the milk production). So the result when I weighed on Monday is 57.9 kg.

I am back to my daily routine on Monday and went out for 15-20 mins walk with Daisy in the stroller before picking up Lily. So today I am weighing 57 kg. I never expected weight loss when I started this, so I feel happy that I am back to 57 🙂 and have not increased in weight after the weekend binge.

Day 6 – Stress and meditation

1 litre of water(immediately after waking up) – Done (Trying to increase it to 1.5 litres but so far I couldn’t do it. It is really difficult. I feel like I am going to throw up)
Drank more than 2.5 litres for the day
Had 4 almonds soaked overnight
Breakfast – oats with banana (didn’t like it much 😦 )
Two servings of fruits per day – Banana for breakfast and Guava as evening snack.
Weight – 125.7 lb (57 kg)

I started with 57.9 kg and now I am 57 in just 6 days. I couldn’t believe it. I am not dieting and exercising for just 15-20 mins per day. Then too, I am able to reduce my weight. I am sure it is fat loss as I am feeling energetic throughout the day and I am not cutting down on my food (in fact increased my food intake. Seems like I am eating all the time). I feel wonderful this week. I am going to check if there is a way to find out if I am losing fat or muscle (just to be assured that I am on the right path).

Okay, again I didn’t get time to do exercise. It was a busy morning. My in-laws are coming tomorrow and leaving on sunday. I had to clean my house(toys/books everywhere) and the guest room. Also, I did the prep work for cooking as much as I can for the next two days. My mom-in-law will not be impressed if my house doesn’t look neat and clean. I didn’t clean to impress her, I am just trying to avoid a conflict. So it caused lot of stress in my body and mind. I could sense it because I started shouting my hubby for nothing. Poor guy!!

I finished all the work at 10 pm. Now, I felt very bad that I didn’t even think of doing exercise today. My eyes were tired, so I just closed my eyes and started inhaling and exhaling deeply. I felt good and continued it for 15 mins. I was able to inhale only for 10 secs. I guess that it is very low. I should improve it. I think I could call it meditating because I started thinking of my favorite places and childhood happy memories and that really helped me to relax and concentrate while breathing. After this, I opened my eyes and felt so much relaxed and refreshed. I am sure I could do so much work again. My eyes are still tired but my body is brisk again.

So if I can call meditation as an exercise then yes I am back on my commitment 🙂

Day 5 – Failed!!

1 litre of water(immediately after waking up) – Done
Drank more than 2.5 litres for the day
Forgot to soak the almonds overnight. So ate it just like that 🙂
Breakfast – oats with apple
Two servings of fruits per day – apple for breakfast and banana for dinner.
Weight – 126.3 lb (57.3 kg)

I feel so bad while writing this. I couldn’t do any kind of exercise today 😦 though I am sticking with my food plan.

After sending Lily to school, I had my breakfast as I was hungry. Thought of starting with stepper after an hour as my hubby went to office today. But Daisy woke up from her sleep and didn’t go to sleep until 11:45. So I had time only to take a shower, dress up and pack Daisy in the stroller for a walk. I picked up Lily, finished lunch with Lily and put Daisy to sleep. I had time only to take a power nap as Daisy was awake the whole afternoon. She slept for an hour in the evening after that.

My hubby was busy after coming home, so couldn’t leave the kids to him. I was hungry again at 7:30 pm. So Lily and I had dinner and Daisy slept. I finished cutting the vegetables for tomorrow’s lunch at 8:30 pm.

I couldn’t find time to include exercise anywhere today. Overall it is a tiring day for me. I am gonna hit the bed after finishing this post.

My hubby promised me that he will let me go out for a walk tomorrow before he leaves for the work 🙂 Hoping for a wonderful day tomorrow!!

Day 4 – Walking and Jogging Interval

1 litre of water(immediately after waking up) – Done
Drank a little less than 2.5 litres of water for the day
Eat 4 almonds soaked overnight – Done
Breakfast – oats omelette and a glass of milk
Two servings of fruits per day – one guava for brunch and some musk melon as snack in the evening.
Weight – 126.1 lb (57.2 kg)

Today I finished my cooking in just 30 minutes, so I had lot of time between 10:30 am and 12 pm. Also, my hubby was working from home. I used the best of it :). I fed Daisy so that she wouldn’t disturb in the middle of my walk. I did some warm up exercises, then 6 mins brisk walking and jogging for approximately 30 secs interval and my total time taken is 25 mins. I felt achieved at the end of my walk :). Came back home and stretched really well. So far I have not experienced any pain, hoping that I won’t have muscle soreness tomorrow because of jogging.

And Daisy gave me some extra hours of free time by sleeping for continuous 3 hrs 🙂

Feeling achieved!!!

Oats Omelette

As part of eating healthy breakfast every morning, I started having oats. I tried out this recipe and it turned out to be really good and my hubby liked it too 🙂

Servings: 2 persons

The ingredients that you will need are:

1 cup (100 gms) Oats
3 eggs or 4 egg whites
salt to taste
Pepper to taste
2 tsp milk (optional)
Capsicum – finely sliced/ chopped
Onion – finely sliced/ chopped
Tomato – finely sliced/ chopped
Mushrooms – finely sliced (optional)

oats omelette

Steps:
1. Beat eggs, Oats, salt, pepper and milk together. It will be little thicker like a pan cake batter.
2. On low heat, pour half of the egg mixture and spread it to cover the bottom of a non-stick pan.
3. Sprinkle capsicum, onion, tomato, mushrooms on top and press gently.
4. Cover the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes on low heat till vegetables get steamed. Do not leave for more than 2 mins, oats get burnt. My first omelette burned a little but the second one came out fine.
5. Turn the side and cook till light golden.
6. Serve with vegetable side up.

Make another omelette with the remaining mixture. The omelette looked more like a pizza to me 🙂

Day 3 – Walking with Daisy

1 litre of water(immediately after waking up) – Done
Around 2.5 litres of water for the day – Done (Trying to increase it to 3 litres)
Eat 4 almonds soaked overnight – Done
Breakfast – oatmeal with apple (For now just concentrating to have better breakfast)
Two servings of fruits per day – Nope 😦 (just had milk and some nuts in the evening)
Weight – I usually see my weight on an empty stomach and forgot to check it today.

After cooking, I tried to start doing stepper. It was 11:15 am when Daisy started crying in her sleep and woke up but she was sleepy. So stopped the exercise in just 2 mins after starting it. I then went out at 11:30 am for brisk walking with Daisy in the stroller. In few mins she slept and I continued my walking until 12 pm as I had to pick up Lily 🙂 I was so happy that I got 30 mins window today and stretched out after coming home.

I wish everyday will turn out like this but with a kid and a baby, I know it would be too much to ask for 🙂

Day 2

It was a busy morning today as I woke up a little late than usual and Daisy was calling for attention to talk with her. Yeah, she started smiling when I talk, so I spoke to her for a while and then started my day.

1 litre of water(immediately after waking up) – Done
2.5 litres of water for the day – Done
Eat 4 almonds soaked overnight – Done
Today my breakfast is oatmeal with papaya – Yummy!!!
Had one orange as evening snack. So two servings of fruits per day – Done
My weight today – 126.7 lbs (57.5 kg). I guess it is going to fluctuate for atleast a week.

Since I sleep late at night because of preparations for the next day and waking up in the middle of the night twice to feed and still waking up early means I get only 6-7 hours of sleep ( 8 hrs if I get lucky) . Though I feel energetic immediately after waking up, I start feeling tired and sleepy in the afternoon. So taking a power nap when Lily and Daisy both sleep at the same time is compulsory for me else I go mad in the evening. Just taking a 20 mins of nap gives me a lot of energy to go on for the rest of the day. So, I try not to miss that.

About my exercise, I tried to finish my cooking before 11 am so that I could go for walk around 11:30 am and pick up Lily from school at 12 pm. But it took till 11:50 pm to finish cooking(fed Daisy twice) and then I had to dress up to pick up Lily. So, I ended up waiting till 7:00 pm for my hubby to reach home to go for a brisk walk.

I walked for 20 mins and then got call from hubby asking me to come home as Daisy started crying. So that’s it. I am finding it very challenging to find the right time to exercise. Hoping tomorrow would be better than this.