Fitness Goals Update - June 2015 Update

June has been a fantastic month overall both in terms of diet and fitness. From a diet standpoint, i have continued to eat a vegan diet inspite of having strong cravings on a few days. It is still too early to talk about concrete benefits owing to giving up milk and milk based products but i have been experiencing moments of clarity compared to earlier. Also, i have been waking up much earlier than usual and that could also be due to easier digestion of the vegan diet. At this point of time, i definitely want to continue this diet for atleast the next 2-3 months.

From a fitness standpoint, i had multiple activities lined up this month. I wanted to do Surya Namaskar and Gym 5 days in a week as well as do hiking every weekend. I could not meet the goal of doing the exercises daily but ensured that i did surya namaskar 3-4 days in the weekday mornings and hit the gym 3-4 days in the evenings. I also covered one more peak in Pleasanton and that felt fantastic! While there is significant scope to improve my exercise routines, am pretty pleased with what i have done in this area in June.

July is a crazy month from a work perspective so i plan to adhere to the same goals that i had set in June. When this goes as well as planned, i will probably set stretch goals in August.   

Fitness Goals Update - June 2015 - Update 2

It has been a good week in terms of maintaining my diet and exercising. The best part of this week was that i scaled Mission Peak along with my wife and my best friends. It felt terrific to reach the top of the peak and while this is not a strenuous trek, i was happy to have made a good start. Hope to continue this trekking whenever i get a chance to, on weekends.

From a diet standpoint, while it feels good to be a vegan, i definitely do miss ghee and curd. Will continue this vegan diet for 2 more weeks and then decide on whether i want to be a Vegan for life or not.

Leadership

Leadership is not something that we look up to in others, but what we have to look within ourselves. Even if at times, we feel insecure, or inadequate, we have to believe that we are capable of becoming greater than what we are today. And the more control and responsibility that we take for our actions, the less we will need to blame others for the challenges/problems that come our way. I have realized that i need to take complete responsibility for my actions. Whatever situation that am in today, in whatever aspect of life is completely my own doing. And i will resolve to improve it, come what may. And I will strive to developing myself into a leader, day in and day out

Fitness and Diet related Goals in June - Week 1 Update

It has been a fairly interesting week to say the least. Over the last few weeks, there was little impact on my mood owing to the exercise/diet changes that i had made. However, this week, i found that my energy levels fluctuated a fair bit and i also experienced some mood swing (felt a lot of anger for little reason). However, the upside is that i kept the goals going and exercised for 4 days during the weekdays and trekked a bit during the weekend. I also explored alternative vegan options for milk/curd and have bought coconut milk that should do the trick for now. Need to keep this habit going and hopefully i will have a better handle on my emotions as well!

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.