20 lost - 20 to go

Since last year, that is 2007, my motto has been to lose 40 lbs. I have lost 20 lbs so far and I have 20 more to go. I am noting down my diet and exercise regimes below, so as to keep track of where I was, where I am right now and how far I need to go.
When I started I was 167lbs, I wasnt this heavy always but most of the times have been a big girl, if you know what I mean. After transitioning from India to US, post-marriage, the weight kept on piling. On hindsight, I think the main culprit was peanut-butter sandwiches, eating out quite often and not seeing the potion-size. But I have to agree that this weight gain has been a boon a disguise, I have never taken better care of myself and have never looked and felt better.

Having a slow metabolism, my main problem has been food intake. I remember doing intense gyming (I will write in later what all I included in my gym sessions) and then not taking care of what I ate. This is a very wrong thing to do, it only helps in piling more weight and in places you wont like. I did gain a few pounds because of this and then it happened, my India trip for my brother's wedding. Each and every person said I had become fat, my husband looked younger than me, etc. Suddenly you realize there are so many things people can tell you when you are over-weight, the dictionary is endless. Not only that, my worse nightmare were clothes, old clothes didn't fit me, my tailor (always on my team) too looked horified to measure me up. But the only thing he said (and believe me it struck like lightning) was dont worry, next year when you come thin down. I was now resolved to do anything I could to cut down on the additional weight I had put on and reduce further.

Meal that I am following since a long time is as follows:
1. Beakfast - Oat meal + soymilk
2. Mid-morning snack - Any fruit like apple or banana
3. Lunch - Vegetable (Indian sabzi) + 2 chapatti
4. After 3 hrs - Another fruit or yogurt with active cultures in it
5. Evening snack (I am not completely happy about this part) - Tea + biscuits (I think this is junk really, but need to find a replacement)
6. Dinner - Vegetable + 2 chapatti

My work out looked like this:
Monday: Full body weight training, 9 exercises in all, 2 sets each with 15 reps for each exercise in each set.
Tuesday: Cardio - Treadmill/Elliptical/Cycle
Wednesday: Cardio
Thursday: Full body weight training

I must admit, I am happier doing weights than anything else. When I started with cardio, I was apprehensiible about Elliptical, now I totally enjoy myself on it. Even on a treadmill, I generally used to walk at the speed of 3 mph at an inclination of 10. I could notrun for even 2 mins in Feb 2007, today i can run for 30 mins non-stop on a treadmill, running outside is still a problem I have to tackle.

I followed this religiously for a year and lost about 20 lbs. It seemed losing weight was easy. This is when I got stuck with weight plateau. It is a condition where your weight doesnt fluctuate, it remains constant. For me, there was a 2-3 pounds fluctuation but I roughly remained 148 lbs.
This weight plateau has been going on for 4 months now, people say maybe this is my actual weight and I cant go further down than this but I have some other plans, I have resolved to do better, finally I want to win this race against weight.

This is the modification I have made since a week now 10-May-2008, I will further update this blog if it works out:

Diet:
The main problem I see in my diet is evening snacks and dinner. I eat junk and do late dinner. So here is the solution (which I think should work), I am going to cut on biscuits and eat milk + berries. For dinner, I have started eating only salads, cucumber, tomato, carrot with a little salt/pepper and cilantro. Lets see if my weight plateau puts up a fight!!!!!

Konkana SenSharma

I have become a huge fan of this Indian Actress. For late comers, Konkana is daughter of renamed Bengali Actor/Director Aparna Sen. She has acted in number of Bengali, Bi-lingual and Hindi films.

It so happened that I saw two of Konkana SenSharma's movies on the same day - Aaja Nachle and 15 Park Avenue. There is a scene in Aaja Nachle where Konkana's character has to audition for a role in a play. She is shown dancing on the tunes of the song "Babuji zara dheere chalo...", that scene is mind-blowing, it is hilarious and looks like the renowned actress is comfortable making fun at her own self, such an important trait for an actor. The scene is worth the entire film's money.

15 Park Avenue, the more I talk about this film the better I like. Konkana is shown as a schizophrenic in this film. The film made me realise how difficult it must be for people to cope with a world which does not exist for most of the other people living in the outside world. Imagine, you are constantly seeing someone, someone so real, you can feel their prescence, talk to him/her, yet everyone else will say the person does not exist. A world within another world. Konkana has acted so well, that I could literally feel the pain and agony of a schizophrenic, the helplessness to convince people what they are feeling is real, when in reality it is not. Full marks to even Shabana Azmi for enacting a very complex character of a sister who is mentally and physically drained of the responsibilities she has to carry.

At times I feel there is a dearth of opportunities and there is so much of cut-throat competition then there are women like Konkana SenSharma and Shabana Azmi who make genX actors look silly to the core. There is no competition at all if you are at the very top.

I totally am bowled over by her...