Wednesday, January 02, 2013

Weight loss and Fitness guide for IT professionals


First thing first, IT professionals don't have time and even if they have, they are lazy, I mean mostly.
Whom this guide is for -
  • You feel exhausted climbing 3 floors, or feel disgusted if the lift is not working even when you stay on the 2nd floor.
  • You struggle hard to pick a pair of jeans that looks fit. You avoid sports t-shirts and of course sports too! 
  • You saw your graduation picture or a year old photo in Facebook and thought, dude I "was" smart.
What this guide will help you with-
  • Get started being smart soon enough, trust me its real fast!
  • Choose a pair of jeans faster and wear those Nike t-shirts and think of being on the ground playing rather than seeing.
  • Needless to mention, to build stamina, look brighter, weigh lighter and feel fit.
How the body works -
Lets start with a brief understanding of how body works-
  • The body has evolved to keep you fit for survival, make your muscles work and keep you going to cope with fight and flight situations. 
  • Our body is not trained enough to burn fat all by itself if we keep using elevators, automobiles. Eat junk food, think negative and keep lying on those cushions. Why? Cause the genes we inherit, have code from time that has got training for physical work, mental fitness, correct food and a scheduled lifestyle. 
  • Body has an awesome feature called metabolism, and muscle repair. Keep the metabolism rate high and tear muscles with physical work. And see the results.
The Diet Part and Plan -
  • Eat frequently, not necessarily every two our, it can be 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours duration.
  • Eat as soon as you brush, eat a fruit, drink some water. What ever but eat. 
  • Never skip breakfast, have a wholesome breakfast and drink water up to 0.5 liter in the morning.
  • Don't give up eating what you like, like sweets, parathas or ice cream, but eat them in moderation.
  • Prefer whole fruit over juices, if drinking juice do NOT add sugar to it. (Fruits already contain enough sugar)
  • Take some milk after gyming / working out and a banana or a small piece of chocolate. (Body glucose is used while working out and hence the body starts craving for sugar, to mitigate this a small supply of it soon after gym will do the trick)
  • Eat Egg whites ONLY (not the yolk)
  • Prefer Grill or Tandoori chicken over deep fried one.
  • Eat red meat (e.g. mutton) only occasionally and only consume the meaty / flesh parts avoiding the fatty portions. (The layer that covers the meat is made up of fat, it feels tender, rubbery and sticky to hand. Remove that and eat the meat.)
  • Don't eat big suppers. Eat modestly in night and at least 2 hours before sleep. 
  • Most importantly always feel good, positive, happy, thankful and confident. (Trust me this catalyzes the process exponentially)
Sample diet of a day (non veg) : - (assuming you wake up at 9 and reach office at 10:30)
This is a sample diet for a day, this can be mixed and matched with similar items for other days.


 Time
 Food
 Why?
 with in 30 mins of waking up
 0.5 liters of water, An apple 
 Water will hydrate the body, help in cleansing, and apple will keep the sugar demand in check and give something to the body to start with.
 Around - 10:30
 Idly + egg whites OR poha / upma + egg white etc.
 Egg white provides protein, albumin and helps in burning fat. Idly will give carbs and energy for the day.
 12:30
 Grilled chicken / chicken curry, 2 chapatis, A full cup daal and some veggies.
 Chicken and daal will give protein and veggies gives vitamins.
 3:30
 peanuts + curd / a sandwich +  a fruit
 To keep the enegy up and metabolism going
 5:50
 A plate of fruit cut / a oil less roll / pongal / a small piece of cake / 2 paratha
 gives energy, keeps metabolism going and does not make you feel hungry
 Dinner
 2/3 chapati + daal + sabji
 If you work out in evening, should take milk immediately after working out.

Work outs -
Do not intend to be a body builder. It does not help neither it lasts.
Instead build stamina, muscle strength and toned body.
Stamina building: - 
Stamina is about VO2, stretching your self for prolonged period and getting back the energy level fast.
Run run and run. Play play play. Out door sports are amazing stamina builder. Should be able to run 5k in say 30 mins in 2-3 months of starting your fitness regime.
Start with slower speed and longer duration. Do variations and elevations.
Cycling in gym is not of much help but on road its amazing.
Muscle strength:
Resistance exercise, one or two body parts a day, start with lighter weights and higher repetitions.  Do as per your body permits and time you have. Do not punish your body neither push it too hard.
Toned looks:
Toned looks come once you have strong muscles with above exercise and have burnt enough fat to have
~ 8-10% body fat composition. Fat is essential for body and you should consume good fats like home made ghee, peanuts etc. Its saturated fat that creates problem.

Good diet is say 70% of your solution and work out is 30%. (personal experience).
So don't excuse saying release chal raha hai time nahin hai yaar!
Remember the key is to feel good, positive, happy and confident. Rest is automatic!

P.S. All these are from my personal experience and experiments. Few may sound contrary to usual notion and few might feel like cliche but be assured it worked for me. It may differ from person to person. So understand your body and feel it's needs. Soon you will see you know what it takes, automatically!

Truly
Abinash