Friends with Hashi..

No body told me to my face that I have Hashimotos but that is how the results would be read. Its good in one way and not so much in another. Started seeing humor in the nick name. I have heard of it first in the influencer's fitness or food videos.

I had been experiencing difficulty losing weight. The doctor had asked my lowest weight after the second kid. I thought it was 132 but actually it was 127. About 2 years ago it was that low point. The beginning of that year I had started alternating P90x and Shaun T exercises. After that when the weight started increasing, I thought it was effect of a 5 week study course which meant inactivity. And ofocurse duting the pandemic there were ups and downs. The slow creep is unbelievable, but when the weight would increase without doing anything, I knew something was remiss. From hindsight, I probably know when it all started. In good time I got a blood test. The doctor too acted swiftly and asked for a thyroid blood test, then an ultrasound and then an endocrinologist. The thing that helped me through it was being prepared a little early with each step. One video suggested that this whole gamut of the thyroid blood test and an endocrinology visit are better.  

I have been feeling fatigue in the last few months but vitamin D weekly dose, took care of that. One day I can recall when I was waiting for the day of the week when I could have vitamin D. The heights. 

Few weeks before this was confirmed, I have started prioritising protein and water. Each meal I try to meet my protein numbers adding to about 60g which makes sure that I get good fat too. My eating schedule had been time intervaled with the main constriant of trying to eat early. 

25g Whey protein powder

oatmeal, 3tbsp hemp seeds (10g protein), 1 tbsp chia seeds, cranberries and 1 and 1/2 tbsp walnut powder

next meals with veggies, egg (6g protein) and rest of the protein with cheese or yogurt, 1/2 yogurt

tea two times with totally a cup of milk

Other days the protein could be from quinoa, tuna, chicken what happens to be available.

Not all days go as planned, I try to stick to the macros as close as possible. Other days I could have samosas and that becomes a meal. In the whole 17 days, since I started, the only detour and worth it has been majjiga murukulu

In about 17 days, I have lost about 6.8 pounds from a weight which I have otherwise reached only during pregnancies, to a weight that I am comfortable with.

The good thing about this kind of food is that I dont snack in between meals. No energy crashes.

When it comes to exercise, I am walking about 30 mins a day in the morning. I do a bootcamp twice a week. 

With hemp seeds, I am relieved that I dont have to turn to meat for protein. Also there flaxmeal that I could use.

Macros keeps the meal plan flexible for substitution. If most of the meal stays similar, logging too is easier.

Hope these tips help you reach a healthy weight and mind. I prioritise sleep too. I try to sleep early on the premise that if my body gets enough sleep, I will wake up early. I know I will wake up fit

While I know others have it worse with Hashi, wish I had known earlier that I was struggling against something tough. I could have saved some brain space sooner. 

Whenever I get anxious about it all, I read/watch videos realted to fitness or nutrition to keep the knowledge warm.

Stronger you

 strongeryou online  coaching community might be something to try, if you need support.

Couting macros and reaching protein is working. Drinking lots of water too, each time I get up.

 

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Organic Hemp Hearts

 

Manitoba Harvest Organic Hemp Hearts Shelled Hemp Seeds, 18oz; 10g Plant-Based Protein & 12g Omegas per Serving, Whole 30 Approved, Vegan, Keto, Paleo, Non-GMO, Gluten Free

I once saw a friend eating this. I ate some for sample and after a long time bought it too. I might have tried a tbsp and sent it to where all the healthy things go in pantry, hiding. Happenstance I brought it out again, and now I add a 3tbsp of it in the morning meal.

Day 3 of more protein

 I  have lost of 2 lbs each of water weight in the last two days.

Earlier whenever I tried to eat more chicken, it wasnt very sustainable for me as I couldnt think of ways to have more fat. Adding extra butter wasnt my cup of tea but avocado steps in and lifts the heavy weight.

Now when I add foods like hemp 3tbsp, it adds to protein and fat well. Other things I have added -cheese, whey protein, eggs. Using the macro and calorie counter helps too. 

green peas, chia seeds, flax seeds.

EXOS sport performance

I have started EXOS sport performance. This is a 18 week programme with 3 1 hour programmes a week.

Phase 1, Wk1, Day1

Loved the single leg balance, strength workouts.

Good warmup. Plyo. Jumping with weights.

single leg squats make you faster.

single leg dumbbell row improves your posture.

Exercise for vacation

 Sports performance

Exercise du jour .. repeat

yesterday Good bodyworkout strength training with no weights. topped with a 40 min walk, that got it to a round figure 1 hour exercise.

today HIIT Abs

Full body HIIT with weights

 Full body HIIT with weights

Always wanted to do this one

 Loved this HIIT workout

It felt so good. the actual workout is only 20 min but my heartrate soared.

Good warm up and cool-down.

Must try. Even with some dialed down modifications, I could feel all worked out. And there was a good 3-4 min rest overall too.

At it..

 12 week fat destroyer

This 4 rounds 3 sets had me. Enjoyed it.

All in a day

 10 min of full body strength training

few min of calisthenics and then cooking and dishwashing

Exercises from NYT

 Cardio: jumping jacks, high knees (on your toes), jump rope, march in place, stand and box

Lower Body: chair-assist split squat, chair-assist squat (holding on to the back of a chair as you move up and down from a near-sitting position), lunge, side lunge, wall sit

Upper Body: kneeling push-up, push-up, triceps dip, chair-assisted push-up, wall push-up

Core: abdominal crunch, kneeling side plank, plank, Superman, kneeling plank

Method of Loci

 I am slowly building up a circuit thing in my house. I have started doing mini pull up mechanism practises in the backyard. The picnic table's seating provides for a good incline pushup. There is an ab-roller in the room and in between these, lie dumbbells for the many ways to build upperbody strength, extend this a bit, then theres more in the park. Now I have enough moves that I can practise at the park. I went on a scooty today. The other day when I played badminton with a kid, I dreamt that I was going down a slide.

The moves in the park now include yoga, Bruce Lee's elbow twists, bridge, hollow body hold, plank, lunges.

Pull up time

 Day 1 -Yesterday I found a tree and did a passive hang there. Actually I was there for 1 sec.

Day 2- Today, while going that way during a walk, I was able to hang on for 3 sec. I did this baout 2 to 3 times.

Progress.

I have also started doing the towel scaplar exercise from Lucy Lismore. She said that she learnt to do a pull up by having a bar on the doorway and trying it every time she went by it. I have the bars and trees startegically located. Theres one slight one in the backyard. The one in the park is too low as its for kids. Tried to do an eccentric pull down, it felt like the ground came too fast. Theres the magical tree, wish the branch to hang on was longer. After that is another park, where the base of a landing stairs can be used to do some more exercise. While hanging on, trying to pull my legs up. I think with regular practise, I should be able to do apull up. Its something that I have been wanting to do for  a long time. Wow, all the benefits from the hangs. After that is anothe rpark which has a circular monkey bar. It was funny trying to scale it. I tried to channel the kid in me with the carefulness of an adult.

Day 3

posture correction, vsit abs - 3 x 30s

biceps and pullups with dumbbells in preparation for pullup on bar

10 min jump rope

On the tree I was able to passive hang 8sec first and then 5 sec.

Day 4

From yesterday, I could feel the scapula and abs in the morning.

flat stomach abs plank hold + Bruce Lee abs from Athlean

biceps and pullups with dumbbells

towel shoulder press

12 min jump rope

pull-up bar knee raises and bicycles

tree- passive hang - 15sec+ 8sec+10 sec +10 sec

Progressions

Day 5

Hollow rock

Currently the branch I use is a narrow grip one

Doing inverted rows from the railing of stair case in the park

Push press negatives with dumbbells

pull-up bar knee raises and bicycles

Passive Hang to Active Hang.

Get to inverted row progression of 2-3x per week, 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps and then move to eccentric chin up.

Currently at 2 sets.

Exercises from a Genius

 Tomorrow will be a week of Diastasis Recti exercises. I think I am now ready for Athleans Flat stomach. Do checkout the visualisations. Simple exercises. Small time slots. Lets see how it goes.

Do you feel bad when you miss wearing your tracker?

Wow hollow hold Day 2 .. too cool

Cant wait for the results.

Mobius

Hav eyou heard of this Mobius exercise?

Diastasis Recti

Suddenly I got very aware of the need for correcting Diastasis Recti. So on this 21 day challenge.

BodyFit by Amy has good exercises.

Day 2- 

I did 3 sets of Advanced Postpartum Core Workout - ABS After Pregnancy . 

and a few of these Ab Workout After Baby - Postpartum Ab Exercises - Diastasis Recti Safe Workout.

I was getting ready to do some strenght training, but boy, all that sucking the abs in.. didnt let me go further. That means the exercises ar working right. From the comments, the exercises are working out for people who have had mummy pouches for years.

Day 3

I have learnt that like how we keep dessert for the last, we should keep the exercise we love to do at the end, so that we get to the necessary exercise first. The Advanced Core workout is good. In todays jumprope exercise, I tried to incorporate a bit of the mobius exercise concept of staying int he weak position of side push ups. I also did jumprope backwards. Jumping jack forward.

Having fun

 Floyd Mayweather 1000 calories workout

Good start for the week. 20 min done on Monday.

A friend was able to notice the difference in my legs. She asked if I was doing something. Also said that it doesnt show cellulite ouch.. :) )

Back to workout. The background music is so good, that I started jumping to the music. It stopped being exercise at that point. Live life Mas.... I didnt Taco Bell.. Its not tuesday but we did have Tacoless Fish Taco. 

Its the Aggregate that Matters

After 20 min on 2nd day went to jumprope with planks

Feb 19th

jumprope at Coliseum

Felt good as I was warming up. 30 min is good exercise.

Intentions dont work mechanisms do

 After coming across the Gradatim Ferociter of Blue Origin in Liftoff book by Eric Bergoff, I romanticised how wonderful it is to begin a journey. Slowly and ferociously, you ar eon this journey to be come stronger.

Intentions dont work mechanisms do is another great takeaway from Jeff Bezos. Only when we have proces in place, do we know how well we are progressing.

one of the six lessons from Amazon

Feb 12

 Jumprope to lose leg fat had many kinds of lunges more than jumping rope. Fun fun fun.

Had to fill the time with makeup jumprope.

Running

 Running is a total body affair.

Imagine your head flopping like a ponytail while running as suggested in the article wihtout human adaptation to long distance running.

 Neuromechanical linkage between the head and forearm mediated by the biceps and superior trapezius during running but not during walking research

Feb 11

 400 calorie jump rope workout

Breathing and Exercise

Brushstrokes to Painting 

All that time spent in planks and side-planks...

I wnat to get stronger. I try to hold the poses by concentrating on breathing. It somehow feels that when something is the journey, we learn more of its essence than when its the destination. If we want to breathe better, we might find it harder, but if we are managing our breath to accomplish something, then the breathing skill get more utilised and perfect. 

Thinking of yoga, it is told that yoga was practised, so the rishis body would not feel any pain when they endlessly meditated. For a beginner, anything to be done longer is painful, initially the joy goes down and then starts increasing with accomplishment. In Vikra's case, after a while he couldnt even feel the arm he had raised had been like that for a long time. 

The cracked wheat on the stove brings you out of your thoughts, only after the water has reached a boiling state. 

There is a habit of asking loved ones, if they had dinner. One such question, made me recall that I hadnt cooked something that I promised. I had one more such self reminder earlier, but between kid's homework submission, it got relegated to a la-la land where people find that their lunch boxes are empty.

There is a box breathing technique that helps those who suffer from asthma by building their lung capacity. When we know the benefits or have a goal further out, we are likely to take the route that takes us there. With exercise too, if you choose a bigger goal, then it can help you get better for that, eg jumprope for agility or abs for pull ups and so on. A goal that seems huge but achievable through daily steps. If you can perceive the positive difference, you will keep at it. When you do strength training, you can tell that you are gaining strength by your ability to wanting to move onto heavier weights.

All that time spent daily in exercise are not boring looking similar brush strokes. But week after week, as you add the brushstrokes to the painting, you see the dog's ear and then more of the body as you keep continuing.

Feb 10th

 Jump rope weight loss workout This seemed like one I already did, so moved onto boxer skip with abs and 20 pushups, when in the first video Dan said he does 100 pushups after the workout.

Feb 9th

 Jumprope and Ab

Another excellent one.. Ab exercises seemed like the mainstay. even perfect.

Exercise as flow

Upperbody and Abs Sydney cummings workout after a long time. Because of a minor inconvenience, I thought I will rest it out with the jumping. Then I felt a great relief that I could do strength training. When you do strength training, you can tell the gains as well as losses very fast, when you stop doing it.

 Dans jumprope workout

This turned out to be great. The side planks and x jumprope feet.

Yesterday, when I came across autonomy in The art of impossible as a flow indicator, I knew it would be relevant to the joy you get in exercise. With today's experience of doing the rightest exercise, it ingrained it even more, how when you do the exercise you want for fun and not as a must, you get into the flow state.

The six core psychologial characteristics of flow according to the book:

Complete Concentration

When you are exercising, you are thinking mostly about how to do the next set, how to breathe, how to give it your all in the present. The bodily engagement anchors you in the present.

Merger of Action and Awareness

Your workout buddy or trainer can give you hints on the engagement, with their insight of where should you feel the impact.

Sense of self vanishes

Now you are a power machine getting strong. You are bigger than your self.

Altered sense of time

This takes us to Einstein's relativity. This also depends on the choice of exercise. If its something you love, then you will see the time pass quickly. If you are struggling at the move, you look at the clock more often.

Paradox of control

Other than AMRAP, the exercises are little compartments or curiosities that you explore and then find something really great, that is novel and think how wonderful the new move is. With Sydney Cummings, I am always amazed at the host of new exercises in each video.

Autotelic Experience

When you like some exercise, you might overdo it, but luckily your body as a system warns you if you exhaust yourself.

spectrum of experiences. Microflow to macroflow. You can feel it when things dont go according to the plan. AMRAP hrows me off a bit.

Deep embodiment which is a flow trigger for flow according to Steven Kotler, physical exercise because it involves you fully, it works as a good flow trigger.

Feb 6th

Making everyday count

HIIT jumprope

Did the front to back one side to side addition

jumprope pushup - yesterday

Brandon says by the end of it, we do about 200 pushups.. wow..

17 paths to weight instability

 Weekend binge

Poor Diet

Irregular sleep

dehydration

Paths to Stability

Balance Mindset

Five numbers you need to know

your age

your body fat percentage

your maximum allowed heart rate during exercise

your body measurements 

total calories burned by your body on a normal day

And an xray scan ability of food calories.

Taking care of yourself

Wherever you are, your next step is the big step.

I am using Withings app to watch my weight trend. For the past couple of months, my body fat percentage was increasing causing me a concern. I was doing Sydney Cummings strength workouts. Few months everything seemed in control in terms of muscle gains and measurements going down. 

Now my body fat percentage has started decreasing. I have started using the FoodPrint app which is making a big difference in the number of calories consumed on even special party food days. On the exercise side too, calories burned is improving. The gap is widening and the outcome is showing each day. Feeling so positive. Let me know if you would like to know more or talk about geeting things under control.

While last week most research was on 11 minutes exercise with a high intensity burst adding up to a minute was good enough. If you chose aerobic activity, it was shown to be good for increasing metabolism. This week the research is more on walking benefits from gratitude, productivity, creativity.

I realised something about walking. Recently heard that someone in the community was not doing well. Thats when I recalled that we used to see them walking before. Walking can let you keep connected with your community, building ties with the members. While one disadvantage of walking is that you cant get far, the positive side of it is you know everything close up close. Its the magnifier not telescope.

We have a rock beach in our community. it builds on the concept of rock river. While walking, I bent to look at something white, expecting a small seashell, tiny thin conch type. It turned out to be a small piece of cotton but simulacrum enough to jog my imagination of a peaceful walk on the beach. This made up for a nice poetry prompt. 

Banana Corn Fritters

Another Awesome Day

Tomorrows workout- 

 30 min HIIT jumprope and strength workout

Accountability and Momentum

Walking and Creativity

Hold your weight reins

 I have my 30 min jumprope chosen for tomorrow.

Wow, didnt know what I signed up for.

Amazing but tough. You can see why Brandon and Dan jumps in this one. Usually they do their own talking. Never looked forward more for those 10 sec rest.

Some takes that others have found helpful.

How to lose weight think like a thin person. This article mainly focuses on not being afraid of hunger.

How naturally slim women eat

If these work for you, thats great. What works for me is knowing how much calories are in the food I am consuming and how many calories I am burning through my "active" lifestyle.

I heard of Cronometer today. Didnt realise the UI decision of Foodprint in not showing the total calories until you press Reload button and that too its at the bottom and not on the top.

loseit is another.

Dont underestimate the power of a walk We go for afternoon walk, a bonus way to get brisk walks.

I am happy to move into the face where now Wihtings is convinced that I am living an active lifestyle and that I wouldnt have to make big changes to reach my goal.

Contrast this with the days, when I was doing everything possible and it would say - 'your weight is stable and if you are not making a special effort to gain or lose weight, it means that your lifestyle is adapted to your metabolism. So you can keep going!" 

Somehow technology seems more sentient. Wish it can be this bold when weight creeps up.

These days the smartwatches can track every movement, making it very convenient to log your activity. Small steps count too. 

Nutrition

 stonesoup - the six ingredients dishes

Exercise today

 25 Min jumprope

Another 28 min jumprope and jumping jacks. He's right, jumping jacks can get exhausting in a while.

Another food app win with a party food.

RXBAR, Chocolate Raspberry, Protein Bar, 1.83 Ounce (Pack of 12), High Protein Snack, Gluten Free

 If you are in the fitness circles, you would have heard of RxBar with only the ingredients listed on the top. Thats a good catchy way to make the ignredients so visible, instead of having to search at the back.

Save 15.0% on select products from RXBAR with promo code 15RXVDAY, through 2/15 while supplies last.

This beast called Wellness

Here's my guide to getting into the zone.

You already have a goal of being at a certain weight. Great.

Find your total calories burned through a fitness app

Log your food to get the calories consumed. 

This should show you if you have a calorie deficit needed for your healthy weight loss.

This is a whole system, so just having control on one aspect of it may leave other important controls in blind side.

Find out your weakness.

Weekends?

Come up with plans for those.

Enjoy the experiment.

Be open to strength training, alternate measurements of health like body measurements and body fat% instead of weighing scale.

Veggies and fruits make you happy.

Use this as cushion when you are having a calorie dense food on a party food day. Live Well.

It only gets better..

 Another 30 Min jumprope workout

I was amazed at how the food app is helping me on restraining the party food.

Another one today.

Had a great week with calorie deficit this week.

Fitness Apps

Today's brilliant workout

 30 min jumprope

Life is good

Woke up late. Made lunch walk good. Later in the day, while waiting for a meeting, squeezed 15 min jumprope beginner workout.

Between this workouts, food print app and Jillian Michaels pointing out the total calories from the smartphone fitness app, withings saying that I am in the 20% active people, while not my cardiac best, I feel great.

Sweaty workout

 This is good 30 Min jumprope workout.

Another sweaty one

30 min jump rope workout

Boxer skip jumprope

 Boxer skip

Finished 15 min jumprope this morning.

Jump rope

 jump rope HIIT was good. I had  a15 min slot in the morning. This was perfect for that.

syndey cummings cardio HIIT too. Did about half of it. 

This blog is called keeping up with exercise but there's so much research going on that keeping up with exercise research is going to take more efforts.

The article is right that HIIT gets a lot of attention. The study found that moderate physical activity may have metabolic advantages.

I find it very fascinating that there are different type of calories. The way some smartphones count your calories as exercise when the heartrate goes above a certain threshold. Head to head comparision of HIIT vs aerobic activity.

Blood sugar control was found only on the days of exercise, so it does not matter what kind of exercise, but some exercise is good.  So dont fret too much about missing your schedule exercise as long as you exercise. If you exercise for weight loss benefits too, try coralling the food side with measurement and know for certain that the food choices are good ones with logging. 

A mix of exercises will provide you various benefits. Each with its own. Movement make syou happy. Exerting makes you feel fit. Choose them based on your time, schedule and energy.

When you do not have mich time, 1 min of exertion spread over 11 minutes will give you as much effect as 45 min moderate exercise. This one is easier with jump rope too. If you exert yourself for 20 seconds all out, then you would have to do it 3 times with 2-3 minute normal recovery.

25 min of kickboxing after 15 min jumprope.