Fitness and Diet related Goals - June 2015

It has been more than 6 months since i moved to US and so far the changes have been great. Over the past few weeks especially, i have been far more successful in adhering to a few critical dietary and fitness related changes than i have ever been in the past.

I had long debated on going Vegan and decided to explore following a vegan based diet in May. Surprisingly, giving up coffee/tea and curd rice has been less difficult so far than what i thought it would be. Am yet to experience a really strong craving (recently took a friend to Ghirardelli in SFO and skipped the ice cream there) or a significant energy spike and maybe that is because it is still early days. So i have decided to continue this diet in June and explore how that will have an effect on my overall energy levels.

As regards exercising, early in the year, i had bought a hybrid bike to commute to my office that is fairly close by. While that has been beneficial, i have been having the feeling that i have a long way to go to improve my body flexibility especially given the nature of my sedentary workstyle. Over the past few weeks, i have been practicing one set of surya namaskar early in the morning. I have also been hitting the gym in the evenings and doing cardio and will be continuing these activities in June as well.

Hopefully, i will start experiencing more energy spikes in June! Excited to keep this going!

2014 Reflections

As I reflect upon 2014, I realize that it has been a year of learning. An year where I realized a few hard truths about myself as a person, both in terms of positives and in terms of where I needed to be. It was also a year that challenged my perceptions and forced me to question my pre-existing beliefs. Yes, there are many reasons to be grateful for 2014.

I also understood that pure idealism was not a viable option and it has to be backed up with dosage of pragmatism. Yes, Money is important and it plays a bigger role that what we think it does. This year, I learnt the value of the need to aspire for financial goals. As the tamil saying goes ‘Thanakku minji daan Daanam’, contribution to society at large cannot be achieved without one first realizing one’s individual goals.

I also realized that at times, it is important to focus on self. Only when the self needs are realized will we have the energy to focus on contributing to others, including our family. And if this requires sacrifice, one should be prepared for it. As I started for US, leaving behind my parents and the country I love, I realized this and it only adds weight to my responsibilities and action in the coming years.

Most importantly, i have realized the need to take baby steps towards personal development and not to beat oneself up over past failures. It is good to aim high, but being an idealist, I have generally overestimated my capabilities and underestimated the effort needed to achieve a goal. This year though, on a day to day basis, am going to be focused on hard work and efforts vis-à-vis goals and on being energetic all the time. Energy and Efforts are my mantra for this year, every single day.

There are still areas that I need to sort out, but as I begin to focus on being a better person each day, I hope the universe will sort them out J…Wish all of you a fantastic year in 2015 and may to achieve happiness and success in whatever you aspire for!

Love

Manoj

Goal in September

Have been kept fairly busy at office in the last few months. Which makes it all the more important to focus on my fitness. Am going to start off small by jogging for 1 - 2 Km for the initial few weeks in September. By October start, my goal is to run 4 Km in 30 min time.

 Apart from that, have just shifted my house and it gives me an opportunity to become really organized in terms of maintaining the house. By Sept end, i will make my house spin and span clean and organized.

Will keep you all posted soon.

Every Day Work - Goal for July

It has been a hectic month at work in June. And with more work around the corner, i have decided to make work the foremost focus in July. The key challenge at work is the sheer amount of meetings/calls that goes into discussions and reviews, thus reducing the time to be spent in actual work and gaining domain specific knowledge. This month, am setting the following goals at work:

- Reach Office early and spend close to 12 hours at office
- 6+ Hours of actual work/learning every single day including weekends
- Complete Health Care AHM Certification

This would be by far my most challenging goal as time management has not been my forte and also i have never identified with slogging as a worthwhile option to pursue, treating it as something that is short term depending on deadlines. But with so many changes in Healthcare with Obamacare, there is no better time to slog and to learn. Hopefully by this month end, i would have have developed not only the base level domain knowledge but also the hunger to want to be an expert.

Every Day Exercise - What happened in May and What's up for June!

I have had a track record of setting lofty fitness goals but always landing short of what i set out to do. So last month i thought i will change that by doing a few things right:

1. Set a small goal (30 min exercise) that will provide momentum to achieving better fitness in the near future 2. Make it a habit (30 day goal) through daily exercise and tracking

3. Have variety in exercise (Either brisk walking or Yoga)

3. Triggers (Wife/Bro assistance & Posting in Blog/Sharing with Friends)

4. Reward (Indulge in Sweets/Icecream of my choice) - the goal isnt big so the reward shouldnt be as well :)

The first few days were a breeze and while it got a little tougher in the mornings owing to sleeping late, the daily exercise continued (have to credit my wife for pushing me even when i didnt feel like it) without any major hassles. Got busy at work during the last week and had to attend a few early morning calls that meant i couldnt step out to exercise in the morning on those days. Even though i came back home late around 9 - 9 30 on those days, this goal kept playing on my mind and i ensured that i took a brisk walk at night.

Have to share an interesting anecdote - had booked a late night show for the movie 'Neram' with my bro. But i came back home only around 9 30 and immediately went out for my walk. My bro was hopping mad and blasted me all the way up till the movie (we reached about 10 min late). Of course he cooled down once he realized that the heroine had not yet been introduced which was the reason he came anyways :)

That way, am really happy that i made this goal non negotiable under any condition. Which meant that i ended up exercising on all of the 32 days without a break! No way am i going to break the rhythm now :)

This month, am increasing the rigour slowly - Going to exercise 45 minutes every day with a few tweaks.

It will be either (Walking 30 min + Jogging 15 min) or (Yoga with atleast 1-2 sets of Surya Namaskar).

I have not really thought about dieting so far but am going to drink atleast 3 litres of water every day at different intervals. This way, i think my craving for food at odd hours will reduce.

Will let you all know how it works out this month. Cheers!

Quick Update on the 30 Day Exercise Goal!

It has been 15 days since i kickstarted this habit of exercising every single day. Exercising is not new to me but i have never ever exercised every single day for even a week before. So am pretty happy that 15 days into the goal, i have exercised every single day for atleast 30 min a day! This is inspite of having early morning classes or sleeping late at times. I would not say its been easy as at times i have felt the urge to just go back to sleep. But am happy i have stuck it out so far and am confident of completing 30 days without a break. Will keep u all posted!

The 30 Day Habit - Exercise Every Single Day in May!

Over the last couple of years, i had put on quite some weight and as per the BMI chart, i am in the Overweight category. While i have been dieting on and off, lack of regular exercise has proved to be the biggest obstacle in losing weight and getting fitter.

But why should i get fitter or for that matter lose weight? Am not too concerned about the way i look in the sense that i wouldnt lose sleep over it. I am also not bothered even if others comment on the fact that i look overweight. Then why should it bother me at all?

After analysing, i figured it bothered me because i had internalized a belief that physical fitness goes hand in hand with mental fitness. The future me that i visualized always always looked super fit and was super energetic at any point of time. And i think that i fell short of other big goals i set because the logical mind always looked at the future me achieving these goals while the subconscious mind could discern that i was not the future me yet. In a sense, i was sabotaging my own plans!

In that sense, getting fit through regular exercise becomes the biggest objective. Of course, while intrinsic motivation is high, i need to set certain triggers to ensure success of the 30 day habit and beyond as well. To me, the trigger is to do it with a small group who also believe in changing this habit as much as i do. And my partners in crime are my wife & my brother.

Truly excited to see myself continue this habit for the next 30 days and beyond! I really want it to be a lifestyle change! Through this single habit, i truly believe that my whole life would change for the better! Will keep you all posted on the results!