Happy 40 - Beauty :hearteyes::hearteyes:

We are almost done with October.

Diwali is around the corner, and then Halloween, so people are crazy with shopping and party ideas.
The very mood of Halloween makes me go crazy with the thought of Christmas - Sounds evil right.
I mean, I am not mentally and physically prepared to face Christmas - the most happiest time of the year, yet.

With this body, and all the dullness, pains and all - I have no mood to welcome the season

Weight gain has been a constant problem since marriage. Blame the stress factor, hormonal issue, child birth, busy life style and what not.
With my height 165 CM, I looked great when I was just 55 kgs post marriage. After the first kid was born, I went up to 74kgs, but within 9 months (of course breast feeding helped) I came back to 65 and stayed there for a while until my second child was born within 2.5 years gap. This time, my weight reached 80 kgs post delivery.
I had complications with c-section, and it took several months for the wound to heal. Weight loss was the last thing in my mind back then, as my marriage life as well was rocky during that time.

However, around my DD's first birthday, I lost 10 kgs (this time I breastfed the child just for 4 months), and in the coming years I started crash diets, fasting etc to lose a couple of kgs to stay fit for the age.

I maintained my weight around 65kgs almost all the years after my second child birth since 2013 until 2022 when I had to undergo hysterectomy and Salpingo oophorectomy (surgical removal of the uterus and ovaries), which pushed me into menopause at the age of 40.
Within 6 months after the surgery, my weight shoot up to 81kgs, reaching the maximum .

That's when I decided to hit the gym for the first time. But weight loss after hysterectomy was miserable. Despite trying extremely hard, I only managed to lose 6 kgs in a year, but gained everything back within months as I stopped exercising due to constant travel related to work in the past 8 months.

Post surgery and the recovery wasn't easy. I had hard times with estrogen withdrawal, menapause symptoms plus my hectic career and family responsibilities, but somehow I am managing all without hormone replacement therapy.

Since then, I am on supplements such as Vit D, B, E, Calcium and Omega 3. But I am facing lots and lots of gut issues.
In fact, if my stomach can speak, it will use all the bad words in the world to curse me, as I know it is suffering.
No.. I am not eating unhealthy food. Since 2022 I've completely switched to home made, low fat and low carb diet with portion control, yet my stomach could not handle it.

My current weight is 79 kgs.
I am already on a diet program. Walk at least 10K steps daily and does stretching in the morning.
But, I hardly lose any weight in the past 3 months and I got to know it is related to cortisol - Stress hormone.
Besides, I learnt somewhere, it will be harder to lose weight if your gut isn't clear. Exactly my case.

So, this time, I am on a challenge. Challenging myself to find a new life style to celebrate this 40-beauty phase of my life with grace.

Here are some of the changes I am hoping to make in my new life style. I would like to invite fellow colleagues to join and inspire each other in this thread. Regardless of posts, I am going to keep track of my days and maintain a journal here. You are welcome to do the same

The objective of this thread is to prepare myself better to welcome Christmas and upcoming new year

Happy 40 - beauty

 

The life style changes I propose for week 1:

- Min carb and no Sugar diet (Monday - Sunday)
Same meal for a week :
**Break fast : Leaf porridge or oats with yogurt and banana
**Lunch : Boiled veggies (carrot, beans, potatoes and leaves) and boiled eggs - season it will varieties of masala, but no oil
**Snack: Roasted chick peas, dates
**Dinner: Boiled cowpeas salad

- 10 K walk
if outdoor walking is impossible due to rain, walk within 4 walls. Use smart watch to track.

- Stretching exercise for min 30 mins
Follow Youtube videos. Can also include Zumba if energy levels permits

- Min 7 hrs of sleep
And strictly no screen time before bed time. Should target sleeping at 10.00 pm

- Min 2 ltrs of water daily
Rainy days make it difficult, but should try to flush out toxins

- Avoid tea/coffee
I will alternate caffeine with this gut health drink
Boil cumin, fennel, omam and coriander seeds, drain, allow it to cool and zip the water throughout the day.

For motivation:
I am going to take photos of all my 3 meals, and if possible videos of the exercise/cooking routine to post in social media; so that I can inspire others like me.

Let's start

 

Day 2:
Meals:
Breakfast: Leaf porridge I cup
Mid afternoon: Milk tea and two small kurakkan (Raagi) crackers
Lunch: boiled veggies I cup and two small bananas
Evening snack: Plain tea (no sugar) and roasted peanuts (handful)
Dinner: Omelette (2 eggs), two slices of kurakkan (Raagi) bread and 1 plain low fat yoghurt

Exercise:
10 mins crunching and stretching in the morning
30 mins cardio Zumba exercise and 10 mins yoga in the evening.

@MalStrom I am not at home right now, and I can't cook or order healthy meat in this place. Eggs are the only option for protein intake. I will try to complement it with some yoghurt and nuts for now.
But from next week I'll be home and I can eat chicken or seafood as needed

 

@beautifullife30
Thanks for sharing these links. Seems very effective.
In fact, I've started practicing similar exercises through Zumba videos and which seems interesting and effective too.
Glad to know they work. I hope i too will see the changes soon.

Today's update:
23 Oct 2024:

Breakfast:
Cowpea boiled I cup

Lunch: Raw carrot, and gherkin pieces, with boiled cowpeas and boiled eggs

Snack: 1 cup of coffee with milk, few nuts

Dinner: 1 rotti, one omelette and fruit plate

15 mins crunching exercise in the morning., but nothing in the afternoon as I am travelling today.
Will cover it up tomorrow

 

Hi dears,

I could not update this journal during last week, as I was on a trip. But glad to say that I maintained my diet and workout during the whole time (except for yesterday/sunday as it was my cheat day. Yet, I remained within my 1200 Calories per day range).

I have decided to check my weight every week, and happy to announce that I have lost 1 Kg last week. And notably the bloating is gone to some extend.

What I do?

I tried different recipes for myself such as millet dosa, masoor dal dosa etc as breakfast when I am at home, and have time to invent new recipes. During office days, my usual but filling breakfast would be low fat yogurt and oats.

As for lunch. I made (I have a helper at home) varieties of veggies. 3-4 items, plus a non-veg with very little amount of brown rice. It is very much filling and nutritious too. During office days, I don't have the luxury of cooking much, and I hate eating from the fridge . So, I had only boiled cowpeas, which was totally fine for me.

Dinner time would be challenging. It would be either boiled veggies, eggs and fruits or boiled chickpeas (if i don't eat cowpeas in the afternoon) or piece of brown bread or small amount of rice and veggies/egg. I made sure I ate on time, that too before 8 am.

I religiously followed Latin Zumba dance for 40 mins daily, except for my travel days (2 days per week), and some morning crunching exercises. I walked for 45 mins at least 3 times a week.

I also started drinking black cumin seed water, and black tea daily. Will explore other herbal waters for better digestion and gut health.

I stick to bananas only in the morning or afternoon, and limited the amount of bananas i consume (those they are fresh and free from my own garden).

 

As you have rightly mentioned, I am taking this slowly. Let's see how it goes.

My bloating has gone down considerably, especially in my stomach area during the past week. But it is just 1 week, so I can't say anything confidently. At least it is now better, and the symptoms are disappearing now.

I used to feel full and at times feel difficulty in breathing with bloating after meals. I also felt constipated most of the time, and then diarrhoea after a couple of days. So my stomach used to be always upset and bloated.
I knew I have problems related to my gut health. I used to think it is related to gastritis and consume over the counter medication for gastric since long.
I even tried H pylori kit last month, so not sure what worked.

I happened to watch a clip where actress Vidyabalan was talking about her weightless journey.
Apparently she has been struggling with weight loss since long despite trying all the diet plan, exercise regime and medical interventions, but nothing worked.
But luckily she met a dietician in Chennai recently, who told her the weight gain is not related to fat, but inflammation of tissues in her body. This will get aggrevated with stress and workout; hence water retention and weight gain.
He suggested her to eat anti-inflammatory food and stop going to the gym. I don't know whether she consumed any medication for inflammation. But she lost a lot of weight these days.
She says, this is the first year since her acting career where she did not work out, but lost weight instead.

I could connect a lot with her interview. I have tried almost all the weight lost hacks in the past years, but in vain.
I don't eat much, less carb and less fat. I drink a lot of water. More importantly I do a lot of physical activity, including walking. But weight loss seems a distant dream post my hysterectomy surgery.

I am planning to check my body inflammation, but in the meantime I would try anti inflammatory diet and see how it goes