உறைந்த தருணங்கள் : Frozen Momentz

I started writing this below blog post after the first stint in my fitness journey in which I moved the weight needle from 79kg to 69kg in 6 months (Nov2018/Jan 2019 to June2019) (79 to 67 in 8 months) and sustaining around 69kg for 3 months. This journey got sculpted or planned along the way while I was learning about exercise, diet and about my body. I regularly update this blog post with my learnings along the journey. Hence, there would not be a proper structure. It will be very random.

Note: If you want to get in the best shape of your life, you need to focus on exercise and what you eat. There is no way to avoid this. The two go hand-in-hand.
When you use the power of your mind and imagination, you will make much faster progress.

Tools used

I used HealthifyMe app to track my calorie intake and fitness programs.

I used GoogleFit to count my foot steps as I walk, run, yoga and meditate.

I used Fitbit app to sync with my fitbit versa 2 watch.

Devices used

I started this fitness journey in Jan 2019.

However, I started using Fitbit only from March 2020. Fitbit helped me mainly to understand my resting heart rate and sleep pattern and sleep quality thereby helping me to make decisions such as working out in the morning and taking cold showers in the night.

Professional Trainers

I took help of a diet coach and yoga coach from HealthifyMe for 6 months

I took help of a Yoga master from Ananda Ashram, Pondicherry to learn Yoga personally for 2 months

Books read

Changing Body Composition through Diet and Exercises - Audible Book

Diabetes Code

Salt Fix Method
Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain

Running is a therapy

Anti-Aging Hacks (200+ ways to feel and look younger)

Yoga

Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandra - Swami Satyanandha Saraswathi

Surya Namaskara - Swami Satyanandha Saraswathi

A Yogic Approach to Stress - Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani

Measure What Matters

Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams - Matthew Walker

Happy for No Reason - Mandira Bedi

Unsalted Nuts and Dry Fruits that I consume

Flax Seeds - 2 to 3 tsp per day - Omega 3 Fatty acids - I grind and roast it once in a month so that it doesn't oxidize

Macademia Nuts - 4 - 10 pcs per day - Omega 7 Fatty acids (a rare source)

Brazil Nuts - 1 to 2 per day (A good source for Selenium)

Almond

Pistachios

Walnuts (Omega 3 Fatty acids)

Pecan

Dates

Apricot

Raisins

Cranberry raisins - Crasins

Fig

Prunes

Pumpkin Seeds

Herbal

Fenugreek Powder - 2 tsp per day (Sprouted Fenugreek is dried in shade and not in direct sunlight. Grinded) or Soak Fenugreek overnight and chew in next morning (for 1 tsp of dry fenugreek, used 250ml of water so that next day morning fenugreek water is not bitter)

Ceylon Cinnamon - 1 tsp per day (regular Cassia Cinnamon is not good for health has it has carcinogenic elements)

Cardamom Powder - 1 tsp per day

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp per day

Hibiscus tea

Tulsi Tea (planning to try it in July 2020)

Eladi Churanam

Arjuna Powder (Mixed 1tsp in 100ml warm milk. Drink after 10mins)

Sugar - 3-5 tsp (at max 8 tsp)

Protein

Whey - Gold Standard Optimum Nutrition 1-1.5 tsp per day

Low fat or normal Panneer dishes

Soya dishes

Tofu dishes

Dal dishes (all types of dal)

Sprouted Green gram

Zero fat or low fat milk

Carbs

Low carb (180-200g per day)

Low carb in night especially

Healthy fat sources

Avocado

Things to consume less (do not avoid. the more you avoid the more you will break the plan)

Rice

Wheat

Snacks (Namkeens)

Things to avoid (at least 80% has to be cut. I.e a biscuit packet (150calorie once in a week) 200g of snacks/namkeens/deep-friend items once in a month)

All purpose flour / Maida

Sweets

Donuts

Biscuits

All sugar products (Read Nutrition information)

Body Fat Percentage Chart (click link for source)

Oils

Each oil has its own benefits. Consume multiple oils at same time because there is no perfect or best oil.

Consuming a total of only 500ml per month (including ghee) is good.

Sesame /Gingelly Oil

Peanut Oil

Olive Oil

Mustard Oil

Ghee (Clarified Butter. Not butter) (which is in general good for digestive system. Take 1 tsp per day)

Avocado Oil (I have not tried this)

Avoid following oils

Saffola Oil (not sure though)

Sunflower Oil

Canola Oil

Corn Oil

Vegetable Oils

Soybean Oil

Breakfast

Sathumaavu Kanji / Ragi Porridge

Greens

Spinach, kale, celery, cucumber, Spirulina, parsley

Potassium Sources

Beans

Potatoes (Most of a potato’s potassium is found in the flesh, but about one-third of the potassium content is concentrated in the skin. For this reason, consuming unpeeled potatoes gets you the most of this important mineral )

Sweet Potatoes

Beets / Beetroots

Spinach

Tomatoes

Oranges

Bananas

Avocados

Yogurt

Coconut Water / Tender Coconut Water

Pomegranate

General

Eat lots of fiber and protein

Do HIIT exercises for 15mins a day or 15min intense running to gain muscle mass (and use protein effectively). Good muscles burns fat

Do Yoga for 10mins a day

Eat less carbs in general.

Eat very less carbs in night

Eat 1 cup of Tur dal rich thick Sambar and 2-3 tbsp of rice

Track in a google spreadsheet / MS Excel sheet though you can use apps such as Healthifyme. But problem with app is you cannot own the data or do an analysis of 6 months. However, usage of HealthifyMe for calorie calculation is unavoidable

Drink 9 to 12 glasses (250ml) of water every day. If you take protein powder drink at least 10 glasses of water

Eat protein powder only in case you workout for 45mins (with an HIIT of 15mins or Resistant Training of 15mins)

Not taking in enough protein? - you need the amino acids to rebuild stronger. Take in 1 gram per pound of lean body mass. Take a protein supplement or shake.

Dressing Makes Salad More Nutritious (Click link to read about it)

Food combining can be healthy as well as unhealthy in some cases. Add some amount of healthy oils or fats alongwith salads.

7 Food Combines

1. Vitamin c and plant-based Iron

2. Tomatoes and Olive oil

3. Turmeric and Black Pepper

4. Vitamin D and Calcium

5. Complimentary proteins (with some starch)

6. Beans or Chickpeas with rice

7. Fat and fat-soluble vitamins

Pranayama

Surya Nadi Pranayama

Chandra Nadi pranayama

Brahma Mudra Pranayama

Pravanava Pranayama

Savithri Pranayama

Nadi Sudhi Pranayama

Nadi Sodhana Pranayama

Ujjayi Pranayama

Quit (Cutting) Sugar

I started quitting/ cutting sugar only in June 2020. But, it helped me loose almost 4kgs even though I worked out. I am sure cutting sugar helped me accelerate the weight loss. I am sure, it will help me loose weight int he future as well.

Honestly, I haven't quit sugar completely yet. I don't think it is possible or it is pragmatic. I don't think it is worth taking so much stress (some might feel like is quitting sugar so much stress?). It is a stress because my yoga guru used to tell me that whenever you focus on something or would like to something your subconscious (which is in the back of the brain) will play all the tricks to break your young conscious brain (in the forehead). You need to really do a lifetime tapas to win your subconscious brain. Understanding the power of sub-conscious mind, I just started cutting milk from my tea with milk/latte and coffee with milk/latte. But cutting milk, I reduced the number of calories I consume. Second benefit is I didn't want to talk a black tea (without milk) often (3 times). So, I took black tea only two times a day. For black tea, I replaced sugar with jaggery because jaggery is unrefined sugar which contains some amount of molasses etc.

Technically speaking, replacing refined carbs and sugary foods in a diet with healthy fats helps keep the insulin levels stable, so fewer calories get stored as fat. As a result, "hunger decreases, metabolism speeds up, and one can lose weight with less struggle."

This greatly helped me to loose lot of weight and also reduced my waist line by an inch within a month. Also, I have felt more energized and alert throughout the day.

However, once in a week I do have tea or coffee with milk. I do take one or two biscuits.

Cutting Namkeens/Snacks

I used to take 300 to 400gs of Namkeens/snacks every week. Namkeens are snacks deep fried in oils. They contain good amount of salt and oil. Hence, it is very tasty. I have reduced my Namkeen consumption from 400g per week(1600 per month) to 200g per month. It has greatly helped me accelerate my weight loss.

Remember, there is no point in just loosing weight. One should loose FAT nor muscles

Because one's weight loss should not come by losing muscles. Weight loss should come from loosing fat.

4 Reasons Why You’re Losing Muscle and Not Fat

1. You’re not eating enough protein.

Many fad diets often lack protein. These fat diets cause your body to enter a “muscle destroying starvation mode, [called] catabolism".

So, while you should be in a calorie deficit to lose fat, you should be focusing on healthy whole foods, with a healthy amount of protein. To help maintain or build muscle, Gallo recommends eating “fish, lean meat, eggs, tofu, and low-fat dairy.”

2. You’re not using your muscles.

Not using your muscles can cause them to waste away, so make sure that you strength train. “Resistance exercises and high-intensity cardio are fantastic for building muscle and cutting fat,” says Gallo. “I love multi-joint compound exercises, such as squats, deadlift, bench press, pull-ups, and any high-intensity cardio.”

Not to mention, because muscles burn more calories than fat, you will be helping yourself if you strength train. Not only will you be able to grow muscle, but you can aid in your weight loss. So, use those muscles or lose them

3. You’re not allowing yourself to recover.

Too much cardio is the classic muscle loss enemy, but [it] gets a bad rap. Doing too much cardio with inadequate recovery will certainly lead to muscle wasting.

fI you consume some protein in your cardio recovery and train resistance/weights at least two to three times per week, there should be no reason to lose muscle.” So, the key is to make sure that you get that protein in, without neglecting your strength training for cardio

4. You’re not sleeping enough.

Part of that pivotal recovery progress is getting enough shut-eye. Not getting enough sleep raises cortisol levels in the body.

This imbalance can mess with growth hormone production, which increases the chance that the carbs you consume will be stored as fat. It also slows muscle growth which leads to—you guessed it—more fat.

Fitness

1 hour of walking which includes 10mins of running and 10mins of HIIT. Basically walking is relaxation in between HIIT sessions and in between running sessions

Do Shavasana at end of walking and yoga

Do Pranayama and meditation at end of walking or yoga

Scared to do fasted cardio in the morning ??- muscle tissue won't vanish if you don't eat every 3 hours. Fasted cardio in the morning is the best way to burn fat. Do it in your target zone (see Alpha's notes in video). Quadracarn and CLA are recommended.

Most of the people you see in mags that have amazing abs, they’re runners, swimmers, athletes; they are not doing a bunch of crunches. How they got so lean? Their diet is clean, and they get a tremendous amount of calorie expenditure in their cardio. Marriott is a huge advocate of one trick: when you do cardio work, pull your navel into your core. Even as you walk or run, don’t just focus on the cardio, think about your abs and pull them in. You’ll see increased strength from that (Click the link).

Morning Vs Evening Exercises

When I started taking fitness seriously, I used to workout in the evenings and take showers. After which sleep and wake up late. However, when I woke up I always felt tired and sleepy.

One key health parameter that got affected was resting heart rate. It was an around 60 to 65 bpm whenever I worked out in the evenings. On the days when I just walked, the resting heart rate came down to 58. That's when I realized that my workout is actually impacting resting heart rate. Ideally workouts should improve resting heart rate. But, in my case, it was not improving. (I won't say deteriorating because my resting heart rate was still in a healthy range). Reading about it further, I learnt that working out in evening keeps the body temperature higher during the nigh as the metabolism is pretty much active.

That's when I decided to workout in the morning. After working out in mornings, my resting heart rate consistently fell below 59bpm and mostly around 58bpm which is very good. The main reason is as we work out in the morning, the increased body temperature due to calorie burning decreases as the day problems..

Other benefits of working out in the morning are

1) Exercises breaks the negative stress circuits in the body. So, morning exercises breaks that negative stress circuits and releases endorphins which sets the start of the day on a positive note.

A morning workout may be a better match for your body’s hormonal fluctuations. Cortisol is a hormone that keeps you awake and alert. It’s often called the stress hormone, but it only causes problems when ther’s too much or too little of it. Typically, cortisol increases in the morning and drops in the evening. It reaches its peak around 8 a.m. Hence, morning workout is better.

2) As, I started working out in the morning, my body was well rested in the night (as evenings were very relaxed), hence my body helped me to wake up early in the morning.

3) Better Sleep - As, I worked out in the morning, I was damn exhausted by the time sleep and also my body temperature was lower, hence, once I entered the bed, I slept immediately/easily. On the contrary, whenever I worked out in the evening, there was some trouble in sleeping immediately after entering the bed. Also, the quality of sleep improved a lot with good amount of deep and REM sleep.

4) My evenings were completely for me which I utilized for other activities in my life.

5) Morning exercise is associated with more movement throughout the day. After walking for 45 minutes in the morning, the participants showed an increase in physical activity over the next 24 hours.

6) It is said that morning workouts help manage blood pressure and reduces blood pressure by 10% (throughout the day) perhaps because workouts reduces the cortisol hormone.

6) One thing off the to-do-list (overcome procrastination). Hence, there is no anxiety to find time for exercises in the evening or there is no anxiety about missing the workout.

7) Better mood, more physical and mental energy, less tress

8) Established routine

9) You'll consume fewer unnecessary calories.

10) You'll be more active all day long.

11) You'll burn more fat. (burn 20% more fat) and lose weight because burning body fat as fuel (due to increase in fat oxidation) is linked to weight loss.

12) You'll lower your blood pressure. (lower 10%)

13) You'll sleep better at night.

14) You'll protect yourself from diabetes.

15) You'll build muscle more efficiently.

16) You'll tap into the health benefits tied to exercising.

17) Morning Workouts Enhance Your Metabolism

The purple section of the graph shows how oxygen consumption (and calorie-burning) takes time to return to normal after your workout.

How does running improve fitness? (Click the Link for source)
Running, along with other endurance activities, also make many of our muscles stronger but none more so than the heart. Endurance is about sustained exercise with repetition and this combination makes for a healthy heart. When we run our muscles ask for more oxygen and we ask our heart to pump more oxygen carrying blood to them. Our heart then increases the number of beats per minute and pushes out more blood with each stroke than it would otherwise. Cardiac output is increased.

Over time your heart adapts and finds it easier to pump out more blood with each stroke, your heart rate comes down, as it doesn't need to beat as often to send the blood around the body, and then running feels easier as your heart is working at a lower rate than it previously did. We can relate this to a car that has a top speed of 120mph. It can maintain a speed of 80mph with much less strain or wear and tear for a longer time than a car which has a top speed of 80mph. The first car is working in its "comfort zone" whereas the second car is working to the limit of its capacity. Through running you can increase the capacity of, not only your heart, but your lungs and muscles which replaces your 600cc engine with a 2L engine and this will help you to run further at a comfortable pace or to run your usual distance faster!

Oxygen rich blood travels to your muscles via a network of blood vessels. Tiny capillaries feed the cells in the muscles where they extract oxygen and nutrients and send back carbon dioxide and waste products. Running strengthens the heart, increases the number of capillaries in the body, increases the number of red blood cells and the capacity of the muscles to use the oxygen when it gets to them. The oxygen is then utilised to create a series of reactions needed to release fat or glycogen to be used as energy.

Moderate Exercise - 50%-70% of Maximum Heart Rate
Vigorous Exercise - 70%-85% of Maximum Heart Rate

Max Heart Rate

Walking 2 minutes an hour
People who got up and moved around for at least two minutes every hour had a 33 percent lower risk of dying, according to researchers the University Of Utah School Of Medicine.

People who had chronic kidney disease saw a 41 percent lower risk of dying in the time period studied, which was just under three years on average. And those 383 people were also the most sedentary, spending 41 minutes of each hour immobile, compared to 34 minutes in the group as a whole.

What Are the Benefits of Long Slow Distance Runs? (Source: Virtual Runner)

There are many benefits to going on a long slow distance run:

They promote an efficient running form

They help to strengthen your muscles – especially in your legs, arms and torso

They train your respiratory, cardio and muscular systems to be more efficient

They improve your ability to handle physical discomfort, whilst making you a more patient and disciplined runner

They effectively adapt your ligaments, tendons, bones and joints to the stress of running

They increase the quantity and size of mitochondria, which help you to improve your use of oxygen, and glycogen storage levels

Cold Water Shower (Healthline)

Cold showers are any showers with a water temperature below 70°F

1) Increases Endorphins (helps in reducing depression y 10%)

Taking a cold shower for up to 5 minutes, 2 to 3 times per week, was shown to help relieve symptoms of depression in a clinical trial.

For people with depression, cold showers can work as a kind of gentle electroshock therapy. The cold water sends many electrical impulses to your brain. They jolt your system to increase alertness, clarity, and energy levels. Endorphins, which are sometimes called happiness hormones, are also released. This effect leads to feelings of well-being and optimism.

2) Improves Metabolism

White fat is the fat we associate with conditions such as obesity and heart disease, but we are all born with brown fat. Researchers have found that brown fat plays an important role in adult health. Healthy levels of brown fat also indicate that white fat will be at a healthy level. And brown fat is activated by exposure to cold temperature.

Cold water can even out certain hormone levels and heal the gastrointestinal system. These effects may add to the cold shower’s ability to lead to weight loss.

3) Improves circulation

It can feel uncomfortable to immerse our bodies in cold water, but it can also be invigorating. That’s because water that’s colder than our natural body temperature causes the body to work slightly harder to maintain its core temperature. When taken regularly, cold showers can make our circulatory system more efficient. Some people also report that their skin looks better as a result of cold showers, probably because of better circulation.

Athletes have known this benefit for years, even if we have only recently seen data that supports cold water for healing after a sport injury. It’s the same reason that ice brings down inflammation when we bruise or tear a muscle. By bringing the temperature of an area of the body down, we speed up the delivery of warmer, freshly oxygenated blood to that area. And that speeds up recovery time. Some people may benefit from cold showers as a way to help their blood move through their body more quickly. These include people with poor circulation, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

4) Helps fight off common illnesses

Our bodies are designed to become resistant to the elements we are exposed to. For example, leukocytes help fight infection in the body. The shock of cold water in the bloodstream stimulates leukocytes. This means that taking cold showers can help your resistance to common illnesses, like colds and the flu.

One study even indicated that cold showers could make the body more resistant to certain types of cancer

Hot versus vs Cold Night Showers

Morning: It is generally good to take a lukewarm or normal room temperature water head bath in the mornings because the Pita (Pita is a term used in Ayurveda. Pita should be in balance and within limits for a healthy body else higher or lower Pita would result in diseses) would come down. Pita increases in the body because the body temperature increase in the day due to many activities, exercises etc and it is very high after sleep.

Evening: Evening cold showers (even if we workout in the morning) before the meal/sleep would help to reduce the body temperature thereby inducing sleep and also giving a very good quality sleep.

This also helped in reducing the resting heart rate. Once again, I have observed it recently in 2020 between 2020-Dec-27 and 2020-Dec-31 for 4 days when I didn't take cold water shower in the night, my resting heart rate increased every day by 1 bpm. This confirmed me the fact that cold night shower decreases resting heart rate.

Note: It is fine to take hot water shower once in a while. Hot water shower provides certain other benefits.

Resting Heart Rate (Harvard Link)

Results of observational research studies support a link between health and heart rate.

Compared to people whose resting heart rates were under 70 beats per minute at the study’s start and its end, those whose resting heart rate rose from under 70 to more than 85 were 90% more likely to have died during the course of the study. The increase in risk was slightly less for those with resting heart rates of 70 to 85 at the study’s start and who had a greater than 85 at the study’s end.

Although 90% sounds like a huge and scary increase, let me put it in perspective. Among the group whose heart rates stayed under 70 throughout the study, there were 8.2 deaths per 10,000 people per year. Among those whose heart rates rose above 85, there were 17.2 deaths per 10,000 people per year.

The results also suggested that lowering your resting heart rate over time may be beneficial, but the researchers could not say that for certain.

By doing these 4 things you can start to lower your resting heart rate and also help maintain a healthy heart:

1. Exercise more.When you take a brisk walk, swim, or bicycle, your heart beats faster during the activity and for a short time afterward. But exercising every day gradually slows the resting heart rate.

2. Reduce stress.Performing the relaxation response, meditation, tai chi, and other stress-busting techniques lowers the resting heart rate over time.

3. Avoid tobacco products.Smokers have higher resting heart rates. Quitting brings it back down.

4. Lose weight if necessary.The larger the body, the more the heart must work to supply it with blood. Losing weight can help slow an elevated resting heart rate.

5) Take evening/night cold water showers (2-3 hour before bed)

Personal observation: Resting heart rate would be higher when we workout in the evenings when compared with working out in the mornings. Hence, working out in the mornings are preferred. Also taking a night cold shower before sleep also helps in reducing the body temperature thereby helping in reducing the resting heart rate and improved quality of sleep.

Usage of Heater and Resting Heart Rate:Also, during winter, my resting heart rate suddenly spiked from 60bpm to 67bpm. I kept a small compact heater below the window and near my chest region (3ft-4ft away). This helped to warm the air. Hence, my body didn't have to suffer much with the cold. After using it for just two weeks, I saw that my resting heart rate came down to 62bpm. [Mid of Nov 2020]. This also helped to keep the cold away.

Cold Air and runny nose

I had a problem of getting mucus and phlegm in the night due to cold air. Due to cold air I had difficulty in breathing especially when I slept near windows during fall, winter and spring seasons in cold countries such as Canada. I experienced nasal congestion which gave me disturbed sleep thereby affecting sleep quality a lot. When I reduced my weight, the difficulty in breathing greatly reduced. But, I still had mucus and my sleep quality suffered. But, accidently I observed one great improvement. I kept a heater between my chest region and below the window. This provided warm or normal room temperature air for me to inhale. Hence, my nose was dry when I woke up. Also, it reduced my resting heart rate by 5 beats per minute (From 67 to 62 bpm). This is certainly significant. The lesser the resting heart rate the better the hearth health. Also, my Fitbit sleep score improved from 78 to 85 which is really a great improvement.

Also, I regret taking allergic medications for cold because the root cause is cold air not allergic reactions.

Read an entire blog about in my blog post on Cold Air (Click the link). You would get a bried over view on Why cold air makes your nose run?, Cold Weather and Runny Noses and Dangers of Breathing Cold Air

Shavasana or Corpose Pose

Shavasana or corpose pose is a yoga pose done as final step in a yoga practice. It is a relaxation technique. I do this after yoga exercises and also after working out.

The major benefit of shavasana that I felt is it helps to take advantage of the endorphins released by the body after doing workouts or yoga. The body is completely rested after a good amount of workout. This helps to feel energized after coming out of shavasana and throughout the day. Or else, we might feel sleeping or tired during the day(morning) in office or very tired in the afternoons.

Fat Burner: Longer Runs (Link)

When you run for longer than about 90 minutes, you improve your body's ability to use fat as fuel.

The lesson?? Complete a long run every week. Since these workouts are more taxing on the body, it's a good idea to only run one every week.

Several studies have shown that the longer a subject exercised, the longer it took for the metabolic rate to return to pre-exercise levels. Event at relatively moderate exercise duration, the benefit is significant. Another study found that this "exercise after-burn is more than doubled when exercise is increased from 30 to 45 minutes. And after 60 minutes? Metabolic rate increases by a factor of five.

My Long run trend-line

Other Long Runs

Amount of Exercise Vs Relative Risk

HDL Vs BMI

Dine before 8pm

According to your circadian rhythm, nighttime is for resting, not eating. Researchers tracked the eating habits of 52 adults, they found that those who ate past 8 p.m. consumed more total calories than earlier eaters. The extra calories consumed by late eaters could lead to weight gain over time

Health Benefits of Walking after a meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) (August 2020)

Brisk walking right after a meal helps in better digestion and reduces belly fat, which simply occurs due to no physical activity after eating. Also when we take a walk after eating we use up our consumed nutrients more efficiently

1) Helps in digestion :: Even 15 minutes of walking after finishing a meal can help with digestion and improve blood sugar levels, speeding the rate at which food moves through the stomach. Other research has found that walking after a meal may improve gastric emptying in patients with longstanding diabetes, where food may typically take longer to digest and empty from the stomach.

2) Boost metabolism :: a walk after a meal helps in stimulating your metabolism, which in turn helps in burning calories. The faster your metabolism, the faster you’ll burn calories, and thus, the better your weight will be controlled. Light exercise after a meal will increase your metabolism and cause your body to burn its fat more quickly. Because you are doing this right after a meal, your body does not have time to turn that food into fat. This is probably the main reason that after-dinner walkers have reported good results in terms of weight loss.

3) Lose Weight :: If walking is started as soon as possible after a meal, the increase in BS level will be limited by BS consumption during walking, and the insulin increase that occurs in response to a meal load will be restricted as well. The author lost nearly 3 kg by fast walking after lunch and dinner for a one-month period, and the volunteer participant lost nearly 1.5 kg by walking at a slow pace for the same one-month period.

4) Lower Blood sugar :: Why go through medication when you can lower your blood sugar by walking for just 30 minutes after consuming a meal? Walking for 15 minutes shortly after each meal improved daily blood sugar levels to a greater extent than a single 45-minute walk in the morning. Researchers say that a post-meal stroll helps clear glucose from the bloodstream in part because more of it is taken up by the muscles.

5) Have a restful sleep :: Take a walk after your supper which will not only help in reducing stress levels, but also boost your blood circulation - both important for a good night's sleep! I fell asleep—and woke up—less stressed. One of the most plausible theories is that exercise produces an increase in body temperature as calories are burned. After a light exercise such as walking, there is a corresponding drop in the body temperature, and this may trigger a “sleepy” effect.

6) Lowers blood pressure ::What’s more, several 10-minute walks throughout the day appear to be more beneficial for lowering blood pressure than one continuous session. Another study in sedentary individuals found that starting a walking program can reduce systolic blood pressure by as much as 13%, or about 21 points

7) Improves Blood Circulation :: A 15-minute walk after eating your dinner enhances blood circulation to various parts of the body. This is mainly due to the fact that walking ensures proper supply of oxygen and nutrients to the heart which in turn causes better blood circulation.

Sleep

No fitness blog post is complete without emphasizing the importance of sleep. We put our body through of physical stress during exercise and emotional stress due to work and life. Hence, it is essential to have a good amount of sleep. 7-8 hours of quality is highly recommended

I set a goal in my fitbit app to have a sleep of 7 hours. To implement this it is essential have a fixed bed time. I normally set my bed time to be 1030 a.m. and wake up time to be 5:30 a.m.

Using my fitbit versa 2 device, I monitored the quality of my sleep through various parameters such as amount of DEEP, REM, Light sleep, sleep score, resting heart rate, oxygen levels.

Morning exercises (rather than evening exercises) and cold (rather than hot) showers at night especially helped to improve my quality sleep.

Fitness Measurement

Weight (On a particular day of the week at particular time, without drinking water or eating breakfast and without dress)

Body Fat

Muscle Mass

Water Ratio

BMI

Fitness Test

1) Running Test (1-mile in 13 mins - Excellent, For less than 40 - 13.3 min per mile -excellent 13.31 to 16 minutes is good . 16.0 to 18.30 minutes- average ... over age 40, 14.3 minutes or fewer excellent, 14.31 to 17 minutes good, 17.01 to 19.3) (basic fitness for endurance)

Sit up challenge (basic fitness for flexibility)

2) Blowing Balloon Test - Read about it. Yet to do it

-- Balloon Therapy for Better Breathing (Strengthens diaphragm and abdomen muscles, Resistance training for muscles for respiration. Reduces mental and physical fatigue by increasing oxygenation levels in blood. Use 12 inch balloon. 3 sets of 3 breaths. 3 times a day)

-- Performance Running Breathing - 90-90 Balloon Blow (Lay on floor. Keep the legs on wall. Thighs at 90degree to legs and to stomach. Blow the balloon)

-- Balloon Breathing Exercise for Improved Lung Capacity (Blowing balloons works out the intercostals muscles that are responsible for spreading and elevating your diaphragm and ribcage.....Blowing up balloons, while effectively exercising the lungs’ ability to expand and take in air, does not affect the size or number of alveoli contained in the lungs. Alveoli are air sacs through which oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange happens with the blood......The more oxygen you supply to the body during exercise, the longer you will last without becoming breathless and fatigued. Oxygen restores energy to cells and muscles by breaking down glucose and creating fuel for muscles. When plenty of oxygen is available, your muscles will equip themselves with more energy reserves that will increase your lung endurance. Committing to a daily routine of blowing up 10 or 20 balloons will steadily increase lung capacity and will also amplify the lungs’ ability to maintain a sufficient supply of oxygen over time. Start with a few a day and then build up to more. ......When you steadily blow up several balloons, it effectively exercises all these muscles, building your lung capacity and stamina.)

3) 10K run - Most runners who are reasonably fit and clock about 15 to 30 miles per week can expect to finish a 10K race in 50 to 70 minutes. 10K averages in the United Kingdom are similar to those in the United States, with men finishing at around 53 minutes and women finishing at around 63 minutes.

So 50minutes is a reasonable target for a fit person (Click the link).

4) Cooper Test - A 12 minute running Test (Note: Cooper studied the effect of exercise in the late 1960s and used the term "training effect"[12] although that term had been used before.[13][14] The measured effects were that muscles of respiration were strengthened, the heart was strengthened, blood pressure was sometimes lowered and the total amount of blood and number of red blood cells increased, making the blood a more efficient carrier of oxygen. VO2 Max was increased.)

New Goal - Body Fat Percentage - Less than 12%. When Body fat percentage is less than 10%, your Abs becomes clearly visible because you directly train them or not.

Some notes
It takes 2-3 hours to enter into fasted state to utilize fat storage - Perform exercise during that stage. Hence, weight training, abs exercise in the morning helps to break the fat faster.

Do with higher weights for lesser reps (improves strength) than lighter weights for higher reps (improves anaerobic capacity without increasing strength) . Higher weights also improves metabolic rate. Compound lifts like squats, dead-lifts burn the most post workout calories

Loss of muscle and strength leads to increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, life span, decline of metabolic health. Build muscles by weight training.

High intensity cardio exercises/sessions result in greater fat loss over time than low intensity sessions.
High intensity cardio sessions is more muscle sparing than low intensity cardio
High intensity cardio sessions have increased resting metabolic rate.

HIIT Protocol - 2-3 minutes of low intensity warm up, 30-60 sec HIIT and 30 sec recovery period - Repeat for 20-30 minutes. 2-3 minutes cool down

You can fast up to 3 days because after 3 days only proteins starts breaking down. Until then body relies on body fat, glycogen stores in live and muscles for energy.

A 16-24 hour fasting helps to burn more fat - Intermittent fasting

Pre work meal should be 30g of Protein and 30g of carbohydrates while Post work out meal should be 30 grams of protein and 30-40% of daily carbohydrates.

Cutting carbs means storage of glycogen in live is reduced and the water retention is also reduced. So low carb diets helps in faster weight loss in 3 months while in 12 months low carb is insignificant when compared with normal healthy diet. Hence, calorie deficit matters than low carbs.

Body - Use (Exercise) it or lose it

Exercise - Controls weight, prevents diseases, enhances flexibility, improves stamina, strengthens and tones, improves quality of life,

Consistency is required once you begin to workout

A good night sleep has positive impact on next day exercise.

Exercise plan should be :
1) A warm up (walking)
2) A cardiovascular aerobic workout (running, climbing stairs etc)
3) Strength Building Exercises (pushups, abdominal crunches, dumbbells),
4) Flexibility moves (Yoga)
5) Pranayama
6) Cool Down

Important: When you are working on a muscle, you should feel it

Basic Strength Training Exercises - Ab crunches (crunches, twist, bicycle crunch), push ups, triceps dips, knee raises, leg raises, pull ups, star jumps (jumping and coming down in squats),

Simple Beginner Body Weight Circuit: 20 body weight squats, 20 walking/side lunges, 15 pushes (and incline push-ups), 10 hip raises(i.e, bridges), 15-30 second plank, 8-12 Floor Y-T-I Raises, 10 dumbbell rows (Don't do dumbbell rows on consecutive days)
To make it interesting - Mix push up and side plank(for just 1 sec)

Fitness Ball is good idea to sit at office while doing work - say 30 minutes a day

Intermittent Fasting - As long as you stay under 50 calories, you'll remain in the fasted state. So you can take 50 ml of Coffee.

Sleep - DO NOT SNOOZE and assault your CARDIO-VASCULAR SYSTEM
Source 1 : Reverie
When you artificially wake yourself from sleep by an alarm, it’s a shock to your system, spiking your blood pressure and accelerating your heart rate.

Sleep scientist Matthew Walker in his informative Why We Sleep details the toll this shock takes on your average worker with a habit of punching snooze: “If alarming your heart...were not bad enough, using the snooze feature means that you will inflict that cardiovascular assault again and again within a short span of time”.

“Step and repeat this at least five days a week,” he explains, “and you begin to understand the multiplicative abuse your heart and nervous system will suffer across a lifespan”

Source 2: Independent
If alarming your heart, quite literally, were not bad enough, using the snooze feature means you will repeatedly inflict that cardiovascular assault again and again within a short span of time,

Source 3: Book : Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams
Using the snooze feature means you will repeatedly inflict that cardiovascular assault again and again within a short span of time," Walker explained. "Repeating this at least five days a week in your working life, can cause multiplicative abuse to your heart and nervous system."

Early Morning Exercise
You must begin your day with intense exercise. This is non negotiable. Doing exercise will not only wake you up fully but electrify your focus and energy, amplify your self discipline and launch your day in a way that makes you feel on fire. Workout can be jumping jacks, bur-pees, skipping, wind sprints etc., Make sure you sweat. Because cortisol is the hormone of fear (made from the cortex of adrenal glands and released into the blood) which is highest in the morning.

Exercising lowers your cortisol hence you will automatically dial for your top performance.

Working out first thing in the morning also elevates your metabolism and it fuels fat burning engine of your body so you burn any excess more efficiently and lean out more quickly.

Other Benefits of Exercise

Today (10-Sep-2020), I felt really good in the morning. Usually, after relocating to Canada, when there is mist or whenever I sleep near window, I get cold. When I contacted a pulmonologist (lung specialist) friend he told me that it could be due to allergies, perhaps pollen allergy. I had tried medicines like Allegra-D and Claritin. Allegra-D worked better for me when I was in 75kg weight range. After weight loss in last 4-5 months, I am observing that I am not getting these allergic reactions. I was thinking about and explored in internet. Internet literature says that "Overweight puts a burden on the adrenal glands, which are involved in managing asthma and allergies. Being overweight is also a strain upon the respiratory system and can exacerbate asthma symptoms" (Source:Everyday Health). I am glad that I am currently not getting those allergic reactions. I hope it continues this way in coming months. I will update it as well.

Personal Challenges - 90 Day Challenge - Building Rhythm

Since Nov 2018, I have been in to fitness especially diet and exercise. For some 6 months I was 80% consistent. But after that my consistency was somewhere around 40 to 50% in month at max. It was worst at even 20%. Whenever, I restarted I lost the motivation after 2 weeks either due to no progress in weight loss or due to body ache or due to food carvings.

95% people who diet for weight loss gain it back in 2-3 years

Hence, during the COVID-19 lock down I got inspired by my Yoga aacharya/mentor Dr.Ananda Balayogi Bhavanani of Sri Anandha Ashram, Pondicherry. Dr.Ananda was doing Facebook live (and later recordings uploaded in Youtube) sessions every day on various topics of yoga, pranayamas etc. A spark ignited in my mind that I should also do something productive. So, I started took a 90 day challenge doing at least 45minutes of exercise (could be walking, running, weights, yoga, HIIT etc), 10minutes of Pranayama, 10 minutes of meditation and in the night a 10-15minutes of Yoga Nidra before sleep. I titled my challenge as 90 Day Challenge - Building Rhythm because my main goal is to build a rhythm and overcome lethargy, excuses and train my sub-conscious mind. Also, following celebrity Mandira Bedi's personal challenge of 100 days off exercise extended to 365days as part of fit india movement also inspired me

Another thing that I did in this personal challenge is I put it in Instagram as I want to be accountable to my friends (especially my MBA friends) and colleagues. I did this because I am accountability person (thanks to book Better than before. I hoped that this accountability factor would drive me long. Also, after 2 days, I started putting more stats such as strike numbers for each and every thing such as exercise (N/N), pranayama (N/N), meditation (N,N), yoga Nidra (N/N).

I started this personal Challenge on May 4th 2020 and completed it on 1st August 2020. I must say that the accountability factor really helped me to do the exercise every day even if I missed some of the other stuffs few days because my personal brand was at stake.

My tracking scorecard is

Yoga Nidra - 36/90

Exercise (Yogasana, Running, Walking, Weights - Min 45+mins) - 90//90

Pranayama - 84/90

Meditation - 84/90

Overall - 90/90

Other Stats from Fitbit (May 1 to July 31 2020)

Total Distance walked/ran - 978km

Total Steps - 12.05 Lakh Steps

Total Active Minutes - 8322 minutes

Total Calories Burnt - 279246 calories

My Net weight loss w.r.t 4th May 2020 was 6.1kgs (i.e 13.45 lbs) in the 90 days. However I lost 6.8kgs (15 lbs) in the last 60 days because during the initial 30 days I didn't have a weight measuring scale. After 30 days when I realized that I had not made progress I was determined to fix the mistakes that I made 1) focus on diet 2) focus on weight measurement. I focused on diet from 40th to 65th day. And I manage to check my weight and found that during those 3 weeks I had lost 3 kgs. This motivated me further and I lost another 3.8kgs in next 25 days. Overall I lost 6.8kgs. Most importantly I achieved this without going to gym by diet (50%) and exercises (49% running, yoga, body weight exercises and perhaps 1% on 5lb dumbbells for may be 10 days)

I lost significant amount of belly fat (though a significant amount is still left out) and love handles.

My waist size reduce by at least 4 inches.

My face lost a significant amount of fat during the last 2 months. But during the last 2 weeks, the amount of fat lost in my face/cheeks made me look lot younger like in my 2007-2008 days.

Process Learnings' from this 90 days challenge::

So, by being accountable, tracking the efforts, measuring the results, what I majorly learnt once again is "what gets measured gets managed".

As I started seeing progress I started setting goals for weight loss. For a long time I have been wanting to be around 67 kgs which is the mid point of my healthily BMI weight range. As I am already 67.4kg on 2nd August 2020 and since 2 months is left before winter arrives, I want to loose another 8kg and reach 60kg so that during winter I can manage to not put more than 5kgs.

Once I saw progress, I started setting bigger goals for my self.

Most importantly, what I realized is

"Motivation is a bullshit.

Mastery of self-discipline is what you need to succeed"

✔️ We don't always have motivation to do our workouts

✔️ But if we the discipline, we will do it whatever it takes!

Learning about my body and mind during this 90-day challenge:

I have explained in detail everything in this blog itself. Hence, I am just writing down

1. Morning Workouts, helps sleep soon and better. Helps in waking up early, helps in focusing on others tasks, reduces anxiety of missing the workout for that day, improves/reduces resting heart rate.

2. Cold Showers in the night help in sleeping better

3. Cold showers in the morning helps in reducing the pita because of the higher body temperature due to exercises.

4. If someone wakes you up orally (thanks to my house mate Inayathulla Jafar Ali) at 5am, you can wake up easily

5. Most importantly, the sub-conscious mind is conquerable, trainable, rewireable if we are disciplined. However developing discipline is not an easy tasks. But, any longest journey starts with the first step which only you/I have to take for yourself/myself.

6. Sub-conscious mind plays lot of tricks. Don't get scared. They are finite in number because you only introduced those tricks to your sub-conscious mid. So, you can manage it by discipline.

7. One long work out or one long run (say 10k run) every weeks helps in accelerating the progress and also challenge ourselves mentally and physically

8. Cutting sugar (80%), snacks (80%, milk (60%) helps a lot in cutting the calorie. We will easily cut 200 to 300 calorie every day which is very significant amount in terms of calorie deficit which we can achieve without working out or cutting our meals (i.e without starving)

9. It is better to suffer the pain for discipline than to suffer the pain of regret because now after achieve the weight loss and building rhythm this joy (out of all suffering) is really worth it but the pain of regret for not doing exercise doesn't yield any joy except the momentary happiness of not doing a exercise or not waking up (such happiness is max 5mins because after that pain of regret starts).

10. Try to find out what is going to push to persevere. For me it was accountability factor. My personal brand.

11. When your personal brand is at stake, you will do everything possible to not tamper it and not find any sort of excuses. You will at least do a bare minimum to save your face.

12. Most importantly if we pursue any goal by mastering self-discipline we can achieve any goal.

Long Term Benefits/ Other Benefits that I realized after almost 7 months since I took the challenge

1. Reduction in Allergic Reactions - Cold

Whenever I was in India during the winter or in Korea, USA during the extreme winters, until 2016, I didn't get cold in the night hours (to such an extent I had difficulty in breathing during sleep). I consulted a doctor and he told me that it could be due to weather or pollen allergies or pollution or because of location (in North America it is common to get allergies as I am from not India and not used to this environment). So, as per doctor suggestion I took Allergy tablets from 2 months. Once, summer started I stopped taking the tablets. During summer, I lost almost 10 kgs.

Now, in Nov 2020, I do get cold. But it has reduced a lot. It is not to the extent of blockages or difficulties in breathing. I told my doctor (pulmonologist) about this observation and also the weight loss. He told me that Weight loss helps to have a lot in having a better respiration. That is the major reason for the improved response from your lungs in tackling winter weather.

2. Reduction in Allergic Reactions - Dry Skin

I used to have a tough time with my skin especially my leg regions. It used to get dry and itch me a lot. I itch them frequently and sometimes small wounds happen. Nowadays, I observe that my skin doesn't get dried easily. This could be attributed to lift in my mood due to less stress after reducing weight and gain new perspective and confidence.

3. Reduction in Snoring

I used to snore heavily. I think, after weight loss, my snoring has reduced. I have to ask my wife once I return to Regina [TBD]

Results
Bad news first: I was working towards my goal of 65kg. I was weighting 67.2kgs something during the end of August 2019. But myself to mainly blame I gained 7 kgs and reached 74.1 kgs in next 3 months thanks to my family and also my uncontrolled consumption.

Good news: I checked my lipid profile in first week of January 2020, my HDL Cholesterol reached 38 for first time in 7 years. The highest I have ever known. Rest of my lipid profile was also in healthy range. I am wondering how much better lipid profile and my HDL Cholesterol would have been had it maintained the 67kg. I must acknowledge that my walking, running has certainly helped a lot in improving my HDL cholesterol.

Current Status

As on 2 Aug 2020 after I completed a 90 day challenge, my weight is at 67.4 kg which is within my healthy BMI range.

As on 24 October 2020, my weight is at 65.3 kg which is within my healthy BMI range. During September 2020 and until mid of October 2020, I was able to sustain my weight between 63.5kg and 64.3kg. But in third week of October, due to erratic eating, my weight increased again to 65.3kg.

As on 16 Nov 2020, my weight is at 65.6kg which is within my healthy BMI range. Last 2 months have been little granted eating patterns. I guess it led to weight gain. Have to come to 58kgs soon.

My goal is to reach 60kg which is at the bottom of my BMI(60kg to 75kg for 177cm /5ft 10inch). I hope my tummy would largely disappear when I am at 60kg.

My Weight Timeline since 2005

My Weight Loss Timeline since Nov-2018

My Weight Loss Timeline since June-2020

Pending Experiments/Goals

1) Cutting Salt intake

I have been observing that I consume almost around 300+ grams of salt per month i.e approximately 10grams per day which is way higher than the recommended intake of only 2.3g per day. There are various theories saying that salt is not the culprit while sugar is actually the culprit. In spite of those theories, anything in moderate is good. Moreover, few benefits of low salt diet are 1)we would consume lesser than what we might end up eating when sugar is more than required. 2) we would normally subscribe ourself to the artificial taste which was enhanced due to salt addition. When we cut down salt, we enjoy the true taste of our food which is really good. Hence, we would eat consciously and mindfully.

2) Strength Training / Weight Training

TBD

3) Diaphragm Breathing

I learnt from my Yoga Therapist that I was doing breathing wrongly. My yoga therapist suggested me to practice diaphragm breathing. The practice starts with diaphragm breathing - 5 deep breathing (in 1 minute) every 15 minutes during the day time. It would take few months for diaphragm breathing to follow a healthy breathing style. It is really worth as its benefits are alot.

I have a put a separate post on how to do diaphragm yogic breathing.

4) Salt Water Birth

I have been trying salt water shower since mid of Nov 2020. I read that salt baths are known for their therapeutic and healing properties, as well as their ability to ease stress and boost your overall health.

Your skin, which is your body’s largest organ, will also thank you for indulging in a sea salt bath

If you’re looking for a way to relieve stress, ease achy muscles, and treat irritated skin, you may want to consider taking a sea salt bath.

Board-certified dermatologists are recommending sea salt baths for patients with psoriasis, eczema, and other dry skin conditions.

Soaking in a sea salt bath before bed can also promote better sleep.

The skin is an organ of elimination, and a saltwater soak will draw toxins and heavy metals from the tissues.

The essential trace minerals your body needs are absorbed through the skin to enhance your health.

Skin conditions can be aided, as bacteria and other debris are also drawn from the skin, leaving it feeling fresh and rejuvenated.

Bath salts can be used to relieve skin inflammation and irritation caused by eczema, psoriasis, contact dermatitis, and athlete’s foot.

Other benefits of taking a sea salt bath are said to include:

- stimulating circulation

- easing muscle cramps

- helping to relieve stiffness in joints