2014 resolutions (Hope it's not too late) & 2013 short recap

2013
Got married to the love of my life  (I think I am going to add a new wedding tab)
I discovered a new passion for fitness
I attended my first fitness class
I finally had the courage to start a blog
I had a very rough patch in between but I came out stronger with lessons I will use for the rest of my life
I made new friends in the gym :)
I started running outside
I joined a running club
I ran my first ever 10k race
I  made new blogging friends :)


2014
(this must be the first time in my life where 'lose weight' is not one of my resolutions')

1.  Face my fears  - (every month one thing & I will share it with all of you) 
2. Get back to reading – (every month at least one non-fiction book and one fiction) 
3. Give the exams I have been planning to for the past one year (this is actually one of my fears, I have prepared for these exams but never booked a date)
4. Become a certified  PT(I really want to, I am looking into it ,what do you think?)
5. Continue improving in my overall fitness (that means same or more effort, hard work, discipline & try new things )

What are your resolutions? how do you plan to stick to it?

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 

Tanvee

Wedding Part 4 - Vedic Ceremony

We had two different ceremonies for our wedding, the first ceremony was the Vedic ceremony.

Welcoming the groom

Kanyadaan - parents giving away the bride

Mangalsutra (Just like the wedding band in Hindu tradition the girl adorns a magalstura - auspicious thread - more like a pretty necklace)

Seven vows (promises we make to each other)

seven vows continued

put our heads together and take every decision together henceforth

Final step Exchanging garlands :) :)

Next wedding post about the church wedding...

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 

Tanvee

Reality Check - part 3

I noticed a lot of people who want to lose weight or fat from a specific part only. I have also been there. Hoping for all the fat from my hips to disappear but from my experience weight loss doesn’t work like that. For a long time I focused only my lower body, I did a lot of other lower body exercises and cardio. The result was I lost weight but not only from my lower body. I lost weight overall and as my pant size went down so did my t-shirt size. That’s when I realized I had fat to lose weight from everywhere.

1. Everybody loses weight differently. I always lose first on my waist and then on my hips no matter what exercise routine I chose where as T loses first on his legs and then his stomach. The irony is I focus more on my lower body and he focuses more on his upper body. 
2. If you do 1000 rep of crunches everyday you will definitely have strong stomach muscles but I doubt you will actually lose fat 
3. To lose fat you need to burn calories. Focusing on an overall fitness regime will help you burn more calories. 
4. When you exercise the fat cells in your body release energy that’s how fat is used up from your body. But just because you are doing 500 squats doesn’t mean the fat cells from your thighs are releasing that energy.

What's bad about focusing only on one body part:

1. You might be putting in the time but because the effort is not in the right direction it can get very frustrating because the results will not be as expected.
2. When I was fat I was always worried about my hips as I began to lose weight I noticed my arms were jiggly that’s when I realised for the first time that arms need workout too. Now a days I have to pull back on my lower body weight training because of my weaker upper body If only I would have started with focusing on my overall fitness
3. If you think you really need to lose weight...don’t fool yourself by thinking only one body part of yours stores all the fat because it does not.  As a kid and even in my late teens I always thought it was only my hips the rest of me was just a little over weight, still manageable. Now when I look back at my photos I realise how wrong I was. Yes my upper body was smaller as compared to my lower body but it still had loads of fat that needed to go.

What do you think? If anyone of you is trying to spot reduce please stop wasting your time, I have done that...regretted it and moved on. 

If you have not read reality check - part 1 & Reality Check - part 2 please do :)

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 

Tanvee

Sprinting - my new love

During one of my running club days we planned to only do sprints. We warmed up a bit by jogging a few rounds around the track and then we did very short sprints and my focus was just catching up with the fastest.  It was like short race, each sprints was not more than 20 seconds long and then walk back and repeat.  Just 10 sprints and my legs were already feeling the effect.

Personally I have always focused a lot on my lower body exercise so most of the times even if my lower body gets tired my muscles usually do not get as sore as my upper body, even after my RPM class or my weight training I am usually alright the next day (I know some of you will suggest I need to lift more weights but currently because my upper body is not very strong I can’t lift heavier weights) so imagine my surprise when the day following my sprint my leg muscles were actually sore.

I was so happy because I really did not expect it, I am regular with interval training on the treadmill. Usually I do 1 minute sprint intervals but these 20 seconds intervals outside were a lot more intense. I noticed 20 seconds was enough to slow me down that’s how intense each sprint.

Personally I have really fallen in love with sprinting, each time I sprint I feel very strong I think there's something about pushing my limits that makes me feel powerful and good

Benefits of adding a sprint session to your training

1. Burns more calories : sprinting burns calories during and even after the workout 
2. Helps in making muscles stronger: sprinting is considered similar to weight training because the body is supposed to produce short bursts of energy. 
3.  Increases endurance strength and cardiovascular fitness: because every time you sprint you push your limits it increases you ability. It also increases  the capacity of the body to store oxygen and increases your cardiovascular fitness

Sprints are short and very intense; they cannot be compared to just running at a higher speed. During my 20 second sprints I can’t even think. I have started to include sprint sessions once a week. Do you sprint? If not give it a try I can guarantee you will see the benefits fast. As usual I hope you found this post useful

 

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing  
Tanvee

I would  like to point out I'm no fitness expert these are things I picked up along the way of my weight loss journey by surfing the internet and going for fitness classes.

Wedding part 3 - Bangles & Dancing

Traditionally the bride is supposed to wear green bangles (odd numbers in each hand) till after the wedding. The green bangles are considered auspicious

my sister performed during the Mehendi ceremony, I joined in for a few minutes and finally everybody else joined in too...we had lots of fun

my dad had never ever danced before...he had to be dragged to the floor

finally getting Terence on the floor

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing  
Tanvee

January Jean Club update

I got back from a 3 weeks break on 8^th, my flight was delayed by a few hours so it was a tiring journey. I started work the next day and finally today I found time to write. By now most of you know I am now Mrs T ;)

I want to share a few more posts about the wedding but before that I want to share with all of you my January Jean Club result

I lost 2 kgs in the last 3 weeks, I am sure it was all the running about which goes with a wedding that made me lose those kgs. I was good with my exercise plan and my eating but did not expect to lose any weight. Though I did not manage to run as many days as I wanted I managed to do a lot of circuit training. Most days ended very late for me (1:30 am or later) so I would find it really difficult to get up in the morning for a jog. I was also surrounded by lots of family and friends on most days, these are people I was meeting after ages so instead of going out for a run I would workout at home while spending time with family

Things that kept me on track:

1. Making exercise plans with my sister and friends. I did most circuits with my sister, I went running with one of my closest friend. I went sprinting alone and I went for my long run with T (that was a good way of spending time with people I love) 
2. Being very stubborn about not eating unhealthy. I did not budge once, if I decided to eat healthy I ate healthy. If I was eating out I controlled my portions. I did my usual sharing and one bite for desserts  (except once when I ate one entire ice-cream cone)
3. Improvising my plan. My original plan was to run most days but I found myself not being able to manage that so instead of letting my day go waste because I could not fit in a run I would improvise my plan and do circuit training. There were days when I did three 15 minute workouts because I was so busy 
4.  All my blogging friends, reading all the blogs I read always keeps me on track. Most bloggers remind me to keep going

My circuit training

1 min squats

1 min jumping squats

(5 rep)

1 min plank

1 min push up

--

1 min lunges

1 min jumping lunges

(5 rep)

1 min side plank

1 min mountain climbers

1 min side plank

--

1 min sumo squats

1 min burpee

(5 rep)

1 min donkey kick

1 min leg raise

(5 rep)

Most days this was how my circuits looked sometimes I changed the exercises depending on my mood. that's all for now. Next post back to wedding fun

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing  
Tanvee

Mehendi Ceremony

Our wedding began with a Mehendi ceremony on the 27th of December. I had the mehendi ladies coming home for my mehendi one day prior to the actual event because she wanted to finish my Mehendi without any interruptions

selecting my Mehendi design

my mom with her Mehendi

my bridal Mehendi

some of our very close family friends

next the dancing and bangle ceremony...
Keep Reading I will Keep Writing  
Tanvee

Happy New Year & a Wedding

Hi everybody,I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and a great start to the new year. I am so sorry I have been MIA for the last two weeks. Most of you knew I was planning a trip to India but the one thing I did not mention ever on the blog was the reason for for going to India :)
I got married to Terence.
I am still very busy. We will be back on the 8th of January so till then my posts will be short and sweet with lots of pictures
Here's a little peak into our wedding

Hope you enjoyed this pictures, I am still sorting all the photos will update the blog with lot more wedding snaps :)

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing  
Tanvee