Category: Fight with fat

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Three weight loss tips for WFHMs/SAHMs

If you are a stay-at-home-mum struggling with weighty issues this one is for you. I have been fighting to get back to my fitness routine for the past two years (and failing miserably, I might add). But I’m not giving up just yet. As I start off yet again here are three ideas I am finding useful.
Get rid of food
This one took me by surprise because I was never the kind to eat the kids’ left-overs. But what do I do with that cream-roll they refused to eat (I got it for them because it reminded me of my childhood!) or that muffin they found ‘too chocolatey’? (Seriously, how can that even be a problem?) But kids can be temperamental, mine are. And then that sweet, creamy, buttery delight sits in the fridge beckoning me as I go about my chores. Then comes a point when I’ve wrapped up everything, I’m happily tired and I pick up my book and reach out for that treat. And Bam! my best laid plans go up in smoke. That is why I say get rid of food, fast! Dump it or give it away to your maid. Her kids will probably enjoy it way more than yours and definitely more than you.
Get out of the house
As a stay-at-home-mum/work-from-home-mum there are days when I don’t step out of the house at all other than for small chores around the apartment complex or for the gym. I end up living in my comfort-wear for days – tracks or tights and tees. And I don’t realise how much weight I’ve put on till one day when I decide to pull on my favourite jeans or shirt. Also I forget how much happiness I get from dressing up and looking good. In fact that was/is the one thing I miss most about going to work. So get out of the house. Dress up, pick up your laptop and go sit in a coffee shop if you have to but get out.
Sneak in exercise time
This is another toughie because household chores have a way of never ending. There is always that bit of ironing to be done or a cupboard to be sorted. There always will be. You have to look for small 20-minute windows (less than that doesn’t make an impact for me) and sneak in exercise time – a short walk, a few situps, some suryanamaskars, a few rope-skips – anything that you love.

Small steps go a long way in the fight with fat. And now as the sun comes up I’m off for a walk. I’d love to hear from you. What worked for you in your fitness journey?
Linking up Mackenzie at Reflections from Me. She talks of her fears and vulnerabilities as a mum and the hundred small things that lurk in our heads all the time.

And also with Mel at  Microblog Mondays.
                                                
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Giving the heart its due

Have you ever been in love with two people at the same time? If you have – tell me how do you pick? While the head clearly chooses one, the heart longs for the other. It only becomes worse when in your head you’re a practical Capricorn and think the choice is clear – obviously you follow your head, right? But despite your best intentions you cannot stick it out because your heart is not in it.
Here I am stuck between my two loves – the head says gym, the heart sings out Z.U.M.B.A.

The backstory:

This last year has been a bit of a downer on the health front. Tests revealed desperately depleted Vitamin D levels. The doctor prescribed strengthening exercises that were gentler on the bones. The head quirked an eyebrow at the heart even while nodding in wholehearted agreement. The heart sighed but knew it didn’t stand a chance.
Dutifully I gave up Zumba and took up gym membership. I could do this, I thought, after all these were the first friends of my fitness journey – my first loves. I said hello once again to treadmill and dumbbells.

… and I settled down

…. to the leg presses and bicep curls. ‘Look’, the head told the heart, ‘It’s not so bad, is it?’ The heart bobbed its head, like an employee who doesn’t quite agree yet nods to a rather overbearing boss.
The workout didn’t have the happy zing of Zumba but it offered the comfort of routine and as I began to gather speed on the treadmill and lifted heavier weights for longer counts the sense of achievement kept me going. Just as a a girl gives up the rush of a first crush for the sedate love and care of a married life, I began to settle down to my gym routine.

But it’s never easy

Right across from where i exercise there runs a Zumba class. Each time the door opens a waft of my favourite music floats out. As I watch the girls through the glass walls, twirling and jumping, I mentally go over the familiar well-loved moves along with them and my poor beleaguered heart feels a little squeeze.
In that moment the treadmill seems the drabbest thing on earth no matter that I’m running on it like I’ve never run before.
And I am beginning to feeling like that long-suffering employee who is finally deciding to hand in notice to his boss, like the woman who decides to give up her marriage to rush back into the arms of her first love.
The problem is – there is no overbearing boss, no boring husband – there is just me and my not-so-good knees.
My one hope now is that the vitamin tablets would have worked and the strengthening exercises would have done their bit. And then perhaps I can have a bit of both worlds. On a more serious note, if you have pledged your life to to exercise it pays to listen to your heart.
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The things I’ve seen this morning

A woman hanging from a rope, another one draped on a stand with
her head hanging back. A man with his legs strung across his shoulders, another
one with his hands and feet hopelessly entangled while a third one sits calmly
cross-legged.
Those are the
things I’ve seen this morning at yoga class.
*******
It’s ages since I did a 55er. I thought I’d try one for this
prompt.
I won’t stop there though, because I have to tell you about my new
experiment with yoga. Let me begin by saying that I took it up once before for
about two years and found is quite magical. The twins weren’t yet two and I was
on the verge of going completely crazy. Yoga then wasn’t about weightloss. I
looked upon it as the only me time I was likely to have through the day. It turned
out to be way more than that. I always came away with a sense of peace and
well-being from the sessions. It helped that the instructor was coming home and
I had the kids close by.
With the twins entering their tweens, the ‘going crazy’ feeling is
closing up on me again and I thought I could do with some peace of mind along
with my exercise. Also, with my knees getting worse I knew my days with Zumba
were numbered. Yoga it had to be.
However, it has just not been the same.
To begin with the class starts right at the time that twin’s bus
arrives so I’m not there to wave them goodbye and that doesn’t make me too
happy. Yeah they’re almost ten but N makes this huge show of not wanting me to
go while hardly bothering with me when I’m there. Kids, I tell you! They’re
champions at starting off guilt trips. 
Besides, there are too many people at the class. When we had the
instructor coming home we were just three friends and had undivided attention.
My spondilitis has only made it worse. I cannot do many of the asans and that bugs me no
end, specially when it’s something I could do earlier or when I see people
around me doing it with relative ease.
It doesn’t help to have Zumba songs playing in my head during
meditation. I feel like I’m being unfaithful (To Zumba or Yoga, I haven’t quite
figured out). Sigh! 
Maybe another time, another class, another instructor. For now
it’s back to the walks and the Zumba.
So what’s your most/least favourite exercise?
Linking up to Finish the Sentence Friday. Thanks to Leanne for
the wonderful prompt  ‘The things I’ve seen this
morning…’ . and as always, warm thanks also to Kristi from Finding Ninee our
regular host. Do drop by to check out the other entries.

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Friends and Fitness

These past two weeks have been crazy with even crazier busier weekends. Just as I was thinking I’d sleep in over the weekend I got a call from one of my gym buddies. She has recently got herself a Zumba license. Now where does a newly minted instructor look for students to practice on? Of course right at her exercise buddies. That was how I found myself all excited and awake at the ungodly hour of 6 am on a weekend morning.

What??? 6 am IS ungodly for a weekend.

A little later, there I was with a bunch of friends and the brand new instructor. She was quite a pro and no I’m not saying that because she’s a friend. The best part – her mom came along to cheer her and shook a leg with the rest of us. And, just as moms are wont to do, she brought along a breakfast treat for all of us – tea, cookies and the freshest, softest, most delicious chutney sandwiches ever. 

Now this is a session I like!

Friends and fitness do make for great companions. Not for nothing are group fitness sessions so much fun. There are days when my freelancing work piles up or when the housework can no longer be ignored or I have a meeting at the kids’ school or simply when the laziness monster comes visiting – those are the times when exercise seems like a chore but the lure of a few good laughs with friends pulls me to the gym.

If you find exercising a bore too, look out for a group or enlist a buddy. They are seriously useful when you need that well-aimed kick in your backside to get going.

Linking to Mel’s # Microblog Mondays.

Also, linking to ABC Wednesday where I’m squeezing in the F for ‘Friends and Fitness’ even as G breathes down my neck.

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#Microblog Mondays – Just Do it!

Friends who have been dropping by would know for the past year or so I’ve been hooked to Zumba. I’ve blogged about it often. I can never get over the miracle that I can survive a dance class. Nor can my friends, it seems, since they use every opportunity to pull my leg about it, in a way only comfortable old friends can.

One day after a specially good session I happened to remark, ‘This track I can dance to, in my sleep’. And that was how I put my big fat foot right into my mouth. A little later, when the instructor asked ‘Who knows Bailando and can lead the class today?” I heard a bunch of voices chorusing out a name – yeah mine!

Damn!! Damn!! Damn!! was all my blank mind went while I tried to hide away wishing I would completely disappear. It’s one thing to stand in my inconspicuous corner and do my own thing and quite another to stand right there before the class. It’s like saying just because you can chat up friends you can deliver a speech – not quite the same thing huh?

This here was my nightmare.

However before I could protest, the music had struck up and there I was blundering my way through, forgetting steps I’d done scores of time, steps I knew well, steps that I did pretty well in my small corner! I wish I could say I was suddenly magically perfect like in the movies. I wasn’t. Let me just say I survived and wasn’t booed away. The girls are too sweet.

The best thing though is, that the dreadful dread is gone….. for ever. I might never do it again. But I know I can do it, I did it once, right? That’s so hugely liberating.

We shy off from doing things – fun challenging things – making a huge deal out of them. Sometimes we fear we will be less that perfect, sometimes we’re victims of our own self-image.

Breaking through all of that is freedom.

So from my new-found perspective I can tell you to dance that dance, sing that song, deliver that speech, run that race, get that LBD. Draw, paint, try a trek, take a dip in the sea – as long as you’re having fun and can laugh at yourself, chances are you’ll get by pretty well.

Don’t wait to be earth shattering. Don’t wait to be perfect. Don’t postpone joy.

Linking to for the letter D for ABC Wednesday. 

And to Mel’s # Microblog Mondays where we’re discussing superpowers. Do drop by.
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