The ‘Losing It’ Contest

*This is a winning entry. Check HERE

In this fast paced life one thing is constant—Change.
Sometimes life brings those changes to us and mostly we bring changes to life.
But what inspires to change? Is it to break the monotony? To escape? one morning you wake up and realize you want to be a different person? Could be some one or something that inspired you… like a BOOK
“Losing it“

Source : http://www.losingit.fitho.in/

Whatever may be the reason, the moot point is, if you feel good with your body then every +ve change you make will make you feel good. And if you don’t feel good with your body, if you are not FIT and Healthy they YOU need to Change it.
Go to http://www.fitho.com/  To check if you are fit or not. (Find Your Ideal Weight)

I recently came across with this Contest “Losing it“. Be Happy, it is about losing you biggest enemy, your unnecessary flabs all at the wrong places, your not so toned abs or your “needs HELP” excess weight.
Go to — http://www.losingit.fitho.in/the-losing-it-contest/ to know more about the contest. Authors Prachi and Dhruv Gupta are here to motivate and guide you in keeping your weight in check.

Source: Click on the Image

When I was in school, the regular daily activities were enough to burn my excess calories, I was never a ‘Lays Or Kurkure munch-er’ but still Baked patties or Manchurian rolls (YUMMY) or pastries or chocolate or..Well list is long, in between tuition classes were like a daily routine. Life during school days was something, Right! But in college, things changed, not my eating habits but yes Not-much-movement-sitting-at-a-place became the integral part of my daily routine, be it in class or spending time on computer so gaining weight was obvious.
When did I realize: It wasn’t when My friends told me but when I was trying my favourite pairs of denim and it didn’t fit me than that was it, It was THE wake up call.
Loosing It became my priority, No I did not join any Gym, But I made a plan. I am not an expert but this is the plan I followed.

The first step– Make a healthy choice

The first step it to make a choice between Healthy and unhealthy-junk food.

By healthy I don’t mean cutting all fats and eating only salads, no. Dieting in a Big NO NO. When you diet, you may lose weight but that is a bad weight loss as it cuts down your proper vitamin, proteins and carbohydrates intake making you week in the process. There are fats essential for body and it is about deciding with the healthy diet plan.
Starting by decreasing the intake of junk or too much of sweet and increasing the intake or Fibrous fresh healthy food.

• Fibre rich food like flex-seeds, oats, Dalia, whole wheat grains, sprouts.
• Seasonal fruits which will keeps you hydrated and supply vitamins and minerals, fibres.
• Fresh vegetable, Raw/partially cooked as too much cooking destroys its beneficial properties.
• Nuts (especially pistachio– it is loaded with fibre), Dry Beans.
• Monounsaturated fats like in olive oil, you can make olive oil salad dressing or add it to your Dalia or oats. Or take it as you want.
• Yogurt or milk.
• Replace fizzy drinks and fruit cordials with water. (Well I hate Fizzy drinks so that is easy for me)
• Replace your plain flower bread with whole grain bread, try not to eat samosa, Maggie, noodles, fried things, pizza or anything made of plain flower in general  instead go for spaghetti made of whole grain, pasta etc ( I know it’s hard)

But you are not supposed to take it all at once, or over-eat.
The key is to divide your daily meals in 6 small portions starting from breakfast. Always start a day with a healthy filling breakfast and never skip it. It’ll have adverse effects. And dinner should be light, lightest meal of the day.

exercise:

I did not join any gym as I didn’t have the time for that so I decided with what suited me. The key is make your heart beat faster. Cardiovascular exercise works best. It could be jogging, running, summing, dancing, yoga, aerobics etc.
Since I don’t like monotony so I opted different exercise regime(except swimming) once/twice a day, 4-5 days a week. 30-45 minutes of exercise at different pace is necessary and gives best result i.e. work up a good sweat for 30 minutes. Working out with music makes it more easier and fun and less tiring.
For Example— When you are doing aerobics, Start with warm up, Always warm up and stretch your muscles before any exercise as it reduces the chances of any injury. Then gradually increase the speed of your movements, if you feel tired then gradually slow down then increase the speed again, keep deep breathing whole time as it increases your stamina and always cool down after completing.
Early morning excessive gives good result as body is well rested and metabolism is good.
Never sleep right after Dinner and walk walk walk..

Pick up healthy habits:

• For starters, learn to say NO, and control your cravings. Since I am a converted vegetarian hence saying No to egg pretty much helped me in controlling other cravings (But I am not an obsessed vegetarian, I don’t hold anything against non-veggies 🙂 ).
• REMEMBER THIS MANTRA– ALWAYS EAT LITTLE LESS THAN YOU CAN AND WORK OUT LITTLE MORE THAN YOU CAN.
• When you are hungry and don’t have much time to prepare food then don’t think about grabbing something on your way or ordering a take-out or eating out, Munch some nuts, bite a fruit. don’t starve yourself.
• Don’t over exercise your body and take proper rest. Sleep well, for at least 7 hours straight at night.
• Yes once in a while Cheating (Not that one, I meant with your dietary habits) is okay. But don’t make a habit of it.
• Make a plan that you can follow, and once you start then don’t stop, you can change habits but always remember to KEEP IT HEALTHY.

And Viola 🙂

That would be ME

Well that was all I followed and still following (almost 🙂 ). Do have patience and believe in yourself.
Fit body has a healthy mind.

I want to thank Prachi and Dhruv Gupta for such a wonderful healthy contest. I was starting to grow lazy with my plan and cheat often, writing this article made me realize that. So I guess I have to buckle up again.

Looking forward to this new book as I need a new plan now to keep it interesting 🙂 .

Keep it Healthy
Stay fit

XX
Ankita Singhal