Fun Friday (This is how my weekend looks)

 

I love the sun and I love my weekend walks, hope you all have a wonderful weekend !!!

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Tanvee

My Barbell exercises

This is one of my most recent workout plans, I do this at home with a barbell and adjustable weights (I use 10 kgs). This is one of my short but very effective workout plans, because the weights used are not too heavy I keep my rest period between intervals short, usually stick to 30 seconds after every interval
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(As usual the exercises have links for you to get an idea of the form)
Equipment : Barbell with adjustable weights

Warm up (climb stairs for about 5 minutes or do some squats/lunges/kicks with no weights)
Interval

• Normal Deadlift * 20
• Knee bent Deadlift  + bent over row * 20
• Good morning * 20
• Back squat * 20
• Lunge squat * 20
• Rest : 30 - 45 seconds

Repeat interval 5 times

• Stretch  after all repetitions  

I usually time myself so I don't get carried away and take more rest in between sets, On a good day I try and stick to a little over 30 minutes (interval + stretch)

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

As usual let me know how you liked these exercises? Do you have any more exercises that I could add to this list?

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Tanvee

Fitness Buddy

When I first started I was a fitness buddy addict I needed company to enter the gym or go jogging around university, mostly I needed company because of the fear of being made fun off. A lot of fitness magazines and articles suggest having a fitness buddy is a great way of sticking to your workout plan somehow that’s not how I felt, most of the times because I was depending on somebody else for going to the gym I was letting somebody else control my workout plan.

The main reason for me to overcome my fear of going alone to the gym was because I wanted to be able to control my workouts, I wanted to decide when I wanted to go, what exercise I wanted to do and for how long, I did not want to feel rushed because my friend had to leave early or skip a workout because my fitness buddy is sick.Don't get me wrong I think it’s nice to have a fitness buddy but it’s better when you can motivate yourself rather than depend on somebody else to motivate you to get to the gym.

These days T is my fitness buddy but we have our own plans, there are days when I go on my own, I do my own routine, sometimes I have longer workouts planned so he joins me later, he prefers weights to jogging outside so I usually jog on my own and he does his own stuff but at the same time if one of us is not in the mood to workout we manage to make sure to drag the other along (only excuse that is allowed is falling sick) but it is never the other way.

Things to keep in mind when you plan your workouts with a friend

1. Make individual plans: make your own plan, decide your workout time depending on what best suits you,depening on your fitness goals and other priorities. if you are a morning person and prefer finishing your workouts in the mornings don’t agree to working out after work, because most of the times you will not be motivated enough. Sometimes it’s ok to adjust but your entire plan should not be a compromise.
2. Set your own fitness goals: don’t set common fitness goals, because everybody has a different fitness levels and different motivation to get into their fitness journey, you might want to run a marathon where as your fitness buddy might want to get into body building .
3. Exercise when you are supposed to: I have noticed this in the gym when people walk in with friends they spend a lot of their time talking, laughing and just hanging around the gym...sometimes you get carried away while talking and don’t realise that you have worked out only 30 minutes in your 1 hour workout plan. Even if you have a fitness buddy working out with you make sure you are serious and don’t waste even a minute from your workout time, you can always hangout after your workout but not during,
4. Push each other ahead don’t pull each other down: If your friend is bored to go to the gym...does not mean you are bored too..it means you have to drag your friend out or go on your own. Or just because you run at a slower speed does not mean your friend has to join you at your speed it means you have to increase your speed to catch up...

I prefer planning my own workouts, sometimes I do workout with a friend but that is always in addition to my usual workout plan, I love working out with friends who push me, we do plank competitions or just see who can run longer, I enjoy the healthy competition sometimes but at the end of the day my workout plans depend only on me, my schedule, my goals and my fitness levels.

What you think? Do you workout with a friend or do you prefer working out on your own?

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Tanvee

To my inner voice (the negative thoughts..)

Every night I lay awake
In my heart a promise I make
I promised to walk away
Never hear a word you say

Every step towards a new light
For me it was a tough fight
I promised to stay on track
but you keep trying to drag me back

Every time I try to hide from you
focusing on only what is true
I promise to not let you haunt
but you are always back with a taunt

Every time I feel I have moved on
looking forward to a new dawn
I promise to ignore my inner voice
somehow you never give me a choice

I want you to know
I need to let go
you were my past
Someone who did not last
I have worked hard for a new me
A happier life I can to see
I want you to leave

because with you new dreams I can't achieve

This is me telling myself I need to let go of the negative thoughts, my negative inner voice that keeps pulling me back. I'm not sure how many go through this but even now after losing weight it is sometimes (most of the times) very difficult for me to believe the fact that I'm not fat or overweight and it does get in the way of things, I don't stop working out or eating healthy but my mood does change and the way I behave changes.I hate being so negative so I'm currently work in progress because even though I have family and friends who love me and support me , I feel I'm the only person who can get me away from these thoughts.

Do ever feel this way? what do you do?as usual I would love to know :)

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Tanvee

Level 2 for your Core

I have already covered basic exercises for core, in this post I'm listing a few tweaks that you can add to your basic forms to make the same exercise a little more challenging. You can read more about the basic forms (here)

Plank
plank with weights
plank with jumping jacks
plank with raised leg and arm
Spiderman plank (make this more difficult by adding a push up)

Side plank
Side plank with curl
Side plank with weights
plank walk

Burpee with spiderman plank/push up

Crunch
Regular crunch with dumbbells
Bicycle curnch with dumbbells

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

Let me know how you liked these exercises? Did you find them useful?

 

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 

Tanvee

Plateau

Somewhere in your Weight loss journey you will come across plateaus, a time when everything stands still. I’m sure most of us who have been on this journey or who are currently on this journey have been through a time when the scales just don’t budge a time when you are doing everything right but suddenly stop losing weight, it is very frustrating and sometimes it can also be very discouraging. Here’s what I did whenever I was stuck in one of my many plateaus.

Make sure it is a plateau:

Just because your scales have stopped showing a change does not mean it is a plateau, it could mean many things so before you come to any conclusion check the following:

Are bad habits creeping in?

Sometimes unknowingly bad habits creep into our life, one bite here, one day less at the gym... you might not even realise these small things but they make a difference. Every small good habit counts

Are you making assumptions?

Sometimes you think you are eating right but the calories keep adding up so it is very important to know what you are eating and how much you are eating, instead of just assuming you are eating the correct amount why not do some research or use one of the food apps or talk to an expert just to make sure you are on the right track.

Doing everything right – then why plateau?

The weight comes off at different rate

For me personally when I started my weight loss I was losing weight at a faster rate, every week I would lose a few pounds for sure but as I continued I started losing less, that’s because my body needed to lose less overtime.

So when I weighed around 200 pounds I lost faster than when I weighed 150 pounds because at 200 pounds I had lose over 70 pounds and at 150 pounds I had to lose less than 20 pounds...

Body gets used to exercise and food

When I started my weight loss my body was not used to exercising or eating healthy, initially just eating one healthy meal and a walk was enough for me to lose weight but then my body got stronger, walking was easy I needed to do more. I also needed to revisit my eating habits and add one more healthy meal to see more changes.

So how do I handle plateaus?

Switch things up

Exercise:  If I jog for my cardio I change it to climbing stairs or I switch to climbing hills..even these small changes help me.

Add intensity: sometimes I increase weights, other times I use lower weights but higher repetitions, when I’m jogging I reduce the time but increase my speed...such things usually help me.

Calorie intake: this is something I have read about not really tried it very often, but you can also switch your calories by increasing your calorie intake one day and reducing it the next (so that you are still within your range for the week). I do switch up things I eat while still sticking to my calorie count...

Don’t give up

I know it is very frustrating to stop losing weight but I just don’t give up that easily, no way will a plateau take me away from my fitness goal, For me it a challenge or a good obstacle that I need to pass before I reach my goal. I call it a good obstacle because to me a plateau is another sign telling me I’m becoming better and getting closer...

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Tanvee

Motivation that keeps me going

As a child, a teenager and in my early twenties I would day dream a lot about losing weight, being normal and feeling pretty but even though I wanted it so much it took a good 24 years before I got serious about it and even after that it took some time for me to say confidently that going to the gym or working out had become a good part of my life.

A question I'm asked very often is what motivated me and what kept me going? For me both these were two different things. My motivation to start and my motivation to keep going were not the same. I started because I wanted to lose weight but this was never enough for me. If losing weight was all I needed to get motivated I would have never reached my heaviest point. I could never follow through any plan. Every plan worked for a week and then back to unhealthy routine. I think what's more important to me even more than motivation is how to keep getting back on track till I change my track permanently. Here is a list of things that helped me:

Start every day:  Like I said I have made plans and not followed through but now every time I messed up I immediately made a new plan starting the next day, I did not wait for the next Monday or the 1^st of the next month or a special occasion. My plan started from my next meal. So if I messed up my lunch my new plan started from eating right for dinner and working out in the evening and in my new plan I also had points of why I messed up the last plan this way every plan was an improved version of the previous plan also helped me figure out what works best for me.

Every mistake = new improved plan (includes points of why I messed up) = new way for me to get to my dream

Only 15 minutes: Sometimes even plan was not enough to get me moving to the gym:  I would promise myself only 15 minutes in the gym. Once I woulld get to the gym I never left without completing my workout.  So if I had a workout planned the deal I made with myself was 15 minutes not more,If I do 15 minutes I could tick it off my to-do list and trust me it works. 

15 minutes workout = completing my entire workout. 

Working out with healthier friends: I would try to make plans of going to the gym with friends healthier than me this always helped me because they are more serious so none of my excuses would work, either they would go leaving me behind or they would drag me along, how many times can you stay behind without feeling guilty?

Finding healthier fitness buddy = somebody who is already serious and won’t get pulled down with my excuses instead will help me stay on track

Making outdoor plans: Another thing that always pushed me to get healthier was plans with my friends that included outdoor fun, I did not always want to be the one who had an excuse to not go cycling or hiking. I remember one time I went with my office colleagues for a trek (I was terribly unhealthy and overweight) by the time I reached the top everybody was ready to trek back that was so embarrassing, they were sweet waited till I was ready to get back but I was embarrassed. I never again wanted to go through that experience.

Day out with friends = cycling/hiking = getting more stamina = working out and getting fit

Bad memories:  I have always had a strong family support and good friends but I do have a few bad memories where people have been very rude to me because I was overweight, I have had a friend tell me on my face she never ever wanted to become like me because that would ruin her life (now if I just go and stand next to her she would be beating herself up...karma!!!). I just smiled while other friends supported me but even now when I think about it I get angry and it makes me want to become healthier and stronger. I think this pushes me more than the motivation of losing weight to look pretty

Bad memories = stronger push in the right direction

Realising I could also be good: I was never into athletics or sports so when I started exercising I was not really good, but soon I realised I was good at certain things, I was very flexible for my size (people were actually surprised) and that made me happy. Slowly I became a part of my healthier friend circle, they would ask me if I was going to the gym, they would work out with me, I was not as good as them but just being included made me want to become better and it gave me confidence that I could become healthier.

Confidence in my ability = motivation to become better

Now a days my workouts and gym have become a part of my life and the reason I keep going back is just to become better, stronger and fitter. Everything I mentioned above helped me get to this point. Hope you find these useful, what helps you to keep going?

Keep Reading I will Keep Writing 

Tanvee