A great way to start your diet!!

After reading the Weightloss challenge Intro post,many of you had e-mailed me asking for the diet plan and ideas.I was apprehensive to post MY diet plan because of two things

1)My diet plan is personalised.My dietician sat with me for an hour and after noting down my height-weight-BMI,eating habits,family history and lifestyle,charted out a plan for me.It worked out well for me and now I've lost all the extra weight I had piled upon.
2)I am not sure if it would work for anyone else.I am not sure of any health problems one may encounter following my diet.

But still,people wanted me to share the diet plan.[A friend of mine told me that girls always want to lose weight,I fought with him fiercely that it isn't true;-)]

I'll start with a simple diet plan which all of us can follow.It would not play havoc with your lifestyle or eating habits,as it is just a start.

Start by dieting one day a week.I know,you may think-I may not lose any weight by simply dieting a day in a week.But hey..you can just try,you never know it might help you in the long run when you actually start dieting!!

When I started my diet,after a week or so I went through an emotional turmoil causing me to feel sad all the time.I felt I was being deprived and I needn't do it at all.That is what happens when you cut down your favorite foods from your diets instantly.Usually,all diets call for immediate giving up of Chocolates,sweets,fried items etc.You'll be asked to go for a morning walk or to the gym-which in fact may make you least interested to follow it after all.

So here's a one day diet plan-

Start the day with a cup of warm water with a spoon of honey and half of a lime squeezed in
OR
Have a cup of Black/Green tea without sugar.

For breakfast,have cut fruits.Papaya,Watermelon,Apple,Banana or any whole fruit.Try to avoid Mango and Chikku as they have a high sugar content.Wash it down with a glass of low fat milk[without sugar].Or have a glass of fresh fruit juice or lime juice with salt.

For lunch,have steamed or boiled vegetables-Cauliflower,Carrot and Broccoli steamed with salt and pepper tastes great and fills up your stomach real good.You can include any veggies of your choice.Include a whole fruit too,like Apple or Orange.Have a bowl of low-fat yogurt[prepared with skimmed milk]or again,a glass of lime juice with salt.

For tea-time,have a cup of Tea,Coffee or Milk.Use Demerara sugar or Sugar substitutes for the tea/coffee.Have 2-3 slices of toasted whole wheat bread or 2-3 wheat crackers or 2-3 Marie biscuits[any one of these].

If your mind is occupied with food thoughts[like it may happen sometimes-you start dreaming of Pizza or Burger or Biryani when you are hungry] try taking a stroll,call up a dear friend and chat or listen to music-whatever keeps your mind occupied and happy.

For dinner,have a bowl of soup with lots of vegetables.You could also opt for the same option that of lunch-boiled/steamed veggies.Have a cup of warm milk and go to sleep early.

Remember to drink at least 10 glasses of water througout the day.If you feel hungry in between,have 2-3 almonds or walnuts.Also keep a box of Muesli with you-but take care not to eat too much-just a handful ONLY if you feel hungry.

Next morning,start the day with 2-3 Walnuts/Almonds and a cup of warm water with honey and lime juice.Make sure you have a filling breakfast too.Opt for Cereals or Whole wheat bread toasts with a fruit smoothie[without sugar,of course] and then start having your regular meals.

Hope it helps!!

*One day diet idea from Good Housekeeping mag.Diet plans from my diet.

A Train journey!

Train journey is a great timepass.Even if you are travelling alone,I doubt if you would feel bored in a train.You will find all sorts of people inside the train and spending time observing them is something we (me and hubby) enjoy doing.Whenever I travel alone,hubby asks me to OBSERVE..look for people who look somewhat out of place,look for tell tale signs of their behaviour.

When we travel together,we always opt for the side lower and side upper berths(yup,we are a short couple!)and we always get it since I doubt if someone ever chooses side berths!!That gives us the pleasure of sleeping at our own pace,we sometimes sit and chat for hours and sleep only at the wee hours of midnight-something which we wouldn't be able to do if we had the other berths-it is not at all nice to sit in a squeezed position and talk about our future!!

On our last journey though,we didn't have this luxury.We did opt for the side berths,but there was a "kabab me haddi" in between.Yup,the great Laloo Prasad Yadav-our railway minister had a great idea of increasing the berths in a bogie and included a middle berth for the already crowded side lower and side upper berths.Even though he regretted his idea and the extra berth is cancelled,the position of the berths remain the same and the one falling asleep on the side upper cant even lift his/her head even for drinking water!!

Moreover,the timings of the train was quite late into the night and we were very sleepy when the train started-after an hours delay at 12.30 in the night.We looked forward to a sleepy night as the train reached Chennai only by 7.20am.I happily got into my berth and slept immediately.I was woken up by a shout from the next berth-a girl was shouting into the phone,since I was quite sleepy,I didn't know what was going on.She was on the side upper berth next to mine so I could actually hear what she was talking,but here she was shouting and all the passengers sleeping around could hear it and most of them got up and peeped to see who it was.

I was starting to fall asleep and I again heard her shout.Now,most of the passengers were awake and were actually looking at her while she shouted.What did she shout-She sounded quite upset and said things like 'why are you ruining my life?,why are you torturing me like this?,I will kill myself tomorrow morning,you want to see me dead right?..I was quite shocked and felt sorry for the girl.What must she be going through if she actually forgot about the surroundings she was in and made herself the center of attraction,even though unknowingly.

After sometime,she was again speaking into the phone,this time softly.She was telling-"rascal,he's ruined my life,but I wont cry-I'll be brave and I will stand up for myself".I really felt bad now.After that shhe covered her face with her duppatta-perhaps she fell asleep or perhaps she was silently crying.

We saw her when she got down in Chennai.I saw that she was married-she had a Mangalsutra.She sat on her seat for a while with her hands resting her head.It was time for us to get down too.

On our way back home,we were thinking only about her.Who was torturing her?Her hubby?What kind of a man can treat his wife so badly that she lost her cool like that?Her ex-boyfriend?Why can't she give a formal Police complaint against him?We don't know what she must be going through now,it kind of reminded us about the Bell bajao ad going on in Tv against domestic violence.[While playing,some kids hear shouts and abuses in the house next to them and they ring the bell and ask for their missing cricket ball-when the hubby returns after searching the entire house,they have the ball in their hands,they were just in time-stop domestic violence]

I hope she is doing fine..