From Couch Potato to Athlete

How to successfully fast to lose weight ( fat ) - II

2012-02-09T09:47:00.002-05:00

In my last post I talked about the 3 rules to keep in mind when you want to burn fat/ lose weight by fasting.. 1. Exercise is NOT the best way to create a calorie deficit. 2. Fasting is a great way ( but not the only way and nor is it magical in any way ) to burn fat. 3. Hunger is not an emergency. The first time I leaned down to 157 lbs, I did it the hard way, ignoring these rules...I did it

How to successfully fast to lose weight ( fat )..

2012-01-29T11:45:00.001-05:00

Over the last few months I have had several co-workers, family and friends ask me about how to use fasting to lose weight. On my vacation to India in December, not a day went by without the topic of weight loss coming up one way or the other... So I decided to post my experiences about fasting...There are two ways to do it..the easy way and the hard way...and most of the people who tried fasting

More updates on Fasting

2011-11-16T21:28:00.000-05:00

I have already written a lot about my fondness for fasting as a fat loss tool. Its just so much eat one big meal as opposed to 3 small meals. If you are just starting off on a diet then every meal you consume will be a battle of will... you will constantly have to resist the urge to go for the second helping or controlling the portion sizes. So when you are eating 3 meals a day you have 3

A quick check in and progress updates....

2011-10-13T10:13:00.001-04:00

I have plenty of excuses for not updating the blog regularly...thankfully I have had no excuses for missing any workouts. For the past few months my workout schedule has been going very smoothly.... Monday - Legs , Abs Tuesday - 4.5 miles run Wednesday - Chest, Shoulders Thursday - 4.5 miles run Friday - Back, Shoulders, Biceps Saturday - 6 miles run Currently I am sitting at 167 ...about 8-10

Fitness Update

2011-08-15T19:15:00.000-04:00

I have been very busy with work for the past few weeks so I haven't had a chance to update the blog.However, I am still here! I havent fallen off the wagon or anything. I am still working out six days a week. A couple of months ago a buddy of mine joined me for my weekly runs. Usually I like to workout by myself especially since I have found it difficult to rely on others for working out in

Fighting Stress with Fitness and Exercise - by Jennifer Bell

2011-08-01T06:22:00.000-04:00

I am starting this week off with a guest post by Jennifer Bell from the Health Training Guide. Fighting Stress with Fitness and Exercise It is common knowledge that physical exercise is good for the body, but not a lot of people know that getting into shape can also help their mental health. Stress is unavoidable in everyday life ñ suffering from stress, however, is optional as physical

Direction vs Goals

2011-06-27T21:38:00.001-04:00

I came across a great quote on this website.... "Let your happiness come from your direction,not from your goal.When you have a goal,you will be impatient and restless.With a direction you can be patient and live in the present." This got me thinking about my weight loss goals or finance goals etc. I definitely tend to be restless when I set a goal. If I want to pay down debt ...I feel like I

Lagrange Points and Weight Loss or Behavioral Change - Part 1

2011-06-07T07:37:00.000-04:00

I have been watching the Ancient Aliens series on Netflix instant streaming for the last week. The series is very fascinating and really does make you question if we are alone in the universe. In Episode 3 or 4, they mentioned how the aliens could park their spaceship at a Lagrange point and just monitor the earth. That made me think of how this analogy can relate to weight loss or maintaining

More free time vs fitness

2011-05-31T08:30:00.001-04:00

When I started my weight loss journey it often felt like I didn't have enough free time. I would often think about how awesome it would be to work from home and get an extra hour or two to exercise and lose weight faster. I think people who are often busier tend to succeed at their fitness and weight loss goals more so than people who have more free time. Why is that ? I have met many

My current routine

2011-05-27T08:07:00.001-04:00

I have changed my routine yet again.... Because.... a) The same routine can get boring or b)As I keep repeating my routine, I am always looking to optimize it and remove unwanted time consuming stuff.. c) Sometimes a routine changes in response to what is happening in my life right now... Anyway, since the days have become longer and it gets brighter earlier, I have found it more exciting to go

How to create permanent change

2011-05-19T07:33:00.002-04:00

Whether you are trying to lose weight, get fitter, stop watching lots of TV or learn a new language it all comes down to changing your habits or your thought patterns. The change you wish to make , be it kicking a bad habit or starting a good one, you will make permanent changes if you follow these 4 stages of competence. 1. Unconscious Incompetent You want to make the change or

Online Fitness Resources that you should check out....

2011-05-08T21:40:00.001-04:00

I have come across some really great fitness and weight loss related resources over the past year or so....and I this post I am going to share them with you... 1. Happy Eaters forum : If I had to pick just one resource to visit online for discussion regarding weight loss and fitness this would be the forum I would pick. Renee ( aka Skwigg ) has been blogging about fitness and weight loss for

Quick Maintenance Update

2011-05-02T19:56:00.000-04:00

I have been on maintenance since January and I weight in on Saturday and I was exactly 166.5 lbs. Right around the start of April my weight had jumped to 177.5 inexplicably.... Perhaps it was too many delicious snacks or maybe it was a few times of eating when I wasnt hungry but nothing can account for a 10 pound gain in a month unless I was absolutely force feeding myself, which I wasnt. Well,

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #7 : Model successful people

2011-04-17T22:45:00.001-04:00

Here are links to my first 6 weight loss skills.. Do you research Use Common Sense Being Flexible Patience and Perseverance Avoid the Either/Or Mindset Change your habits, not your diet. Model Successful People When it comes to self-improvement or acquiring a new skill, your chances of success will be higher if you find a mentor to guide you... to teach you the ropes, help you through

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #6 : Change your habits, not your diet.

2011-04-12T08:03:00.002-04:00

Here are links to my first 5 weight loss skills.. Do you research Use Common Sense Being Flexible Patience and Perseverance Avoid the Either/Or Mindset Change your habits, not your diet.. The "research", TV, books have bombarded us with the same message over and over..."Your diet sucks... you dont enough healthy foods...you dont get enough exercise...you eat way to much junk food...that

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #5 : Avoid the Either/Or Mindset

2011-04-04T21:14:00.001-04:00

Here are links to my first 3 weight loss skills.. Do you research Use Common Sense Being Flexible Patience and Perseverance In poker, either you are all-in or you fold....not in weight loss... I have seen so many people fail over the last few years because they were stuck in an either/or mindset that this skill should really be placed at #1. The either/or mentality is a disaster not

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #4 : Patience and Perseverance

2011-03-30T20:11:00.000-04:00

Here are links to my first 3 weight loss skills.. Do you research Use Common Sense Being Flexible Having Patience and Perseverance is the key to success in any area of your life. Especially when it comes to weight loss, we all will go through days when the going gets tough.... Either you are having a stressful day or events not in your control upset your life and/or even worse, you seem to not

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #3 : Being Flexible

2011-03-22T07:57:00.002-04:00

Here are links to my first 2 weight loss skills.. Do you research Use Common Sense Being Flexible will make or break your weight loss plan. I have seen too many people set such rigid exercise and diet regimens that it leaves little to no room for error. In my opinion, there are two reasons why people set such rigid plans : Intrinsic : When we are overweight, we hate looking at ourselves in

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #2 : Use common sense

2011-03-15T20:30:00.001-04:00

In my last post I spoke about the 1st skill of the 7 skills needed to lose weight or make any major habit change in your life.... Let's look at skill #2....Using Common Sense... They say, "common sense isn't that common" for a reason. Its so easy to get caught up in hype, clever marketing, claims that are too good to be true that we forget to use common sense before we make decisions...

7 skills you need to lose weight. Skill #1 : Do your research

2011-03-07T09:31:00.003-05:00

Too many people resolve to lose weight and end up going back to old habits in a matter of weeks or month(s). Everyone I know has resolved to lose those excess pounds and get fit at some time or the other.....and guess what, either they gave up too soon, or did lose some weight but gained it back again. So what do most people do wrong that causes them to fail ? Or, what did I and others like me

Weight Loss progress and Maintenance

2011-03-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

Although my goal last year was to have six-pack abs, I think I came fairly close that achieving that goal. I might be 5-10 pounds shy of that goal but I am not as obsessive about it as I was last year. I decided to maintain my current weight for a while especially after I came back from India. Instead of weighing myself everyday I decided to weight myself every month just to see what would

How fasting changed my weight loss journey

2011-02-24T08:51:00.001-05:00

I briefly mentioned fasting in my last post as a tool to lose weight. This post talks more about fasting and how to do it for weight loss. There are some great resources available online that you can use to research it more, if you are interested. Why fast ? Simple, weight loss comes from creating a calorie deficit... whether you do it by exercise or by eating less. Fasting provides an easy

Easy to follow weight loss advice

2011-02-23T07:21:00.001-05:00

I am by no means a weight loss expert but lately it seems as though most people I know think I am an expert. Wherever I go, I usually get the comments about how much weight I have lost and what advice I can give people. People are very eager to know the "secrets" and ask me typical questions like : 1. What "diet" did you follow to lose weight ? 2. Do you only eat boiled vegetables ? 3. Did you

2011-02-02T07:02:00.000-05:00

FOr the last few months I have been reading quite a few fitness related blogs and tweaking my own diet based on what I read. What is different than in the past though, is that I dont blindly follow all/any advice I read anywhere though. In the past, I forgot to use common sense when reading or following diet advice from some "guru" over the internet. I figured, since they are the "guru", I can

My vacation in India

2011-01-21T08:25:00.000-05:00

Like I said in my earlier post, I spent over 3 weeks in India and had a blast..... Before leaving for India, I had decided to relax the eating and enjoy all the different kinds of food that I rarely get to sample in US. In my past life when I was brainwashed to eat only clean foods, I would have absolutely dreaded visiting India, since it would mean too many temptations and going off of my clean