My personal 21 Day Mind over Matter challenge

Day 5 - 07.08.17
The battle of the urges continues in the realm of my mind!
Weight check - Ok 77.8kgs
Food logging - OK
Exercise - Total 8kms of walk/jog
Calories burnt - 602

Yesterday was a great day again. I went for a 5 k walk in the morning with my toddler son and in the evening went for a 3 k Run pushing the pram ahead. This goal setting does get you to move. My main focus is having a big surplus at the end of week one into my challenge (10th).
I aim to do that mainly by focusing on my diet and gain some margins by exercise.

Thoughts/Observations:

1. No big urges to have a chocolate or a dessert post lunch or dinner. My commitment has already strengthened five days into the challenge.
2. I got an urge to have a celebratory drink at the end of my evening run, knowing I burnt 602 Calories. Did not react either way. I tricked my mind into believing that I would have a nip once I got back home but the minute I got back home I had my supper and brushed my teeth! The feeling of overcoming an urge is far more exhilarating than the feeling of low self esteem every time I succumb to my desires.
3. Feeling lighter and fresher.

Reading for the day:

Calories in and calories out are independent variables.
That would be nice. You could drop energy intake and maintain your resting metabolic rate while burning the same amount of energy digesting food (even though you’re eating less of it) and working out. The fat would melt off at a predictable, constant rate. Anyone with basic arithmetic skills (or a calculator) could become a successful weight loss coach and very few people would be overweight.
In reality, the amount and type of calories we eat affect the amount of energy we expend:
* During calorie restriction, the body “defends” its body weight by lowering resting metabolic rate and reducing spontaneous physical activity. To keep weight loss going, you often have to lower food intake even more (to counteract the reduced metabolic rate) and remind yourself to fidget, tap your feet, twiddle your thumbs, and shiver (to recreate the missing spontaneous movement). And you have to do it again when the body readjusts.
* Whole foods take more energy to process and digest than processed foods. In one example, subjects either ate a “whole food” sandwich (multigrain bread with cheddar cheese) or a “processed food” sandwich (white bread with cheese product). Both meals were isocaloric (same number of calories) and featured roughly identical macronutrient (protein, fat, carb) ratios. Those eating the multigrain sandwiches expended 137 calories postprandially (after their meal). The white bread group expended only 73 calories, a 50% reduction in the thermic effect of food.
* Protein takes more energy to process and digest than other macronutrients. Compared to a low-fat, high-carb diet, a high-protein diet increased postprandial energy expenditure by 100% in healthy young women. And in both obese and lean adults, eating a high-protein meal was far more energetically costly (by almost 3-fold) than eating a high-fat meal.
Calories in affects calories out. The two variables are anything but independent of each other.
From: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/7-common-calorie-myths-we-should-all-stop-believing/

Quote for the day - Eating crappy food isn't a reward -- it's a punishment - Drew Carey

Day 6 - 08.08.17
Almost a week into my challenge now. Well it's not really a challenge to just observe and log my diet as opposed to changing it, is it? Or maybe it may yet turn out to be one. To come face to face with my desires and weaknesses, to realise my own strengths and the things that really motivate me!

Weight check - Ok 77.7kg
Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1703
Calories burnt - 0
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D) - +367 D


Thoughts/Observations:
1) I am not stressing too much on getting my calorie count right or note the content of each meal to the last gram. I am more focused on enjoying the process of just observing.

2) Had an ice cream scoop as dessert after lunch. Not a craving or desperation actually. It was more out of habit. I did not really feel any better or happier after I had it and neither did I berate myself for having put in some unwanted calories.

3) I did a few stretches in the morning and a few minutes of deep breathing as well.

4) Watched a little bit of 'That Sugar Film' last night. It's a really eye opener. I did not know that on an average we consume about 40 tea spoons of sugar each day through all the food we eat and that does not even include any fuzzy drinks, ice cream and chocolates!! Mamma Mia. We have a sugar coated monster as our Master and we don't even know it.

Quote for the day -
I finally figured out the big, elusive secret to weight loss. Don't eat! Who knew? Rochelle E. Goodrich

Day 8 of 21 - 10.08.17

Weight check - Ok 77.5 Kg

Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 2205
Calories burnt - 0
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D) : -135 (E)

Thoughts/Observations:

1. I'm still not seeing any visible changes or feeling any different yet. And that brings me to an interesting observation that we look for instant results in any programme when the body has been subject to decades of conditioning to our earlier debilitating habits. Patience Jason, patience!! Enjoy the process and take pride for making it through each day rather than focusing on expecting results.
2. I am so conditioned in my habit of having a small nip of scotch before my dinner that my mind automatically sends me an SOS message around 7:00pm like clockwork. As before, I acknowledged the signal but politely refused and engaged my thoughts by playing with my toddler and setting up dinner.
3. Continued watching 'That Sugar Film'. Damon visits an aboriginal community in Amato and the findings were quite shocking. In a span of four decades these hunter/gatherers who enjoyed a frugal but healthy way of living now face all the modern world diseases ranging from diabetes to kidney malfunctions, from obesity to heart related issues.
4. Damon then visits US of A, a country he states is the 'Obesity Capital of the World' and the first fruit juice he buys from a shop when he lands has nearly 34 spoons of sugar!!
5. The biggest shocker was when he introduces us to Larry a teenager from a small town in Kentucky. Larry had been drinking 'Mountain Dew' ever since he has been a baby and now averages 12 cans of this high-caffeine, high-sugar concoction every day. The result? Almost all of his teeth have decayed to the root and the infection has seeped into his gums. Hmmm. I guess I will stick to a tall glass of mountain spring water from now on.

Quote for the day :

Weight loss doesn't begin in the gym with a dumb bell; it starts in your head with a decision - Toni Sorensen

Day 10 of 21 - 12.08.17


Weight check - Ok 77.3

Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1552
Calories burnt - 77
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D): +595(D)

My second night shift tonight. It's a 6pm-6am roster so my body cycle gets a bit out of rhythm at the end of the second night.

Thoughts/ Observations:

1. I have curbed my desire to have non-veg for each meal. Honestly, I don't miss having meat that much anyways. Feel lighter and more alert.
2. In fact for dinner, I did not even gave any carbs. Just lentils and veggies.

Quote for the day - The only way you get that fat off is to eat less and exercise more - Jack Lalanne

Day 12 of 21 - 14.08.17

Weight check - Ok 77.0
Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1326
Calories burnt - 174 (Walking)
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D): +918(D)

Thoughts/Observations:

Out for the entire day on work. Woke up late as I was sleep deprived for last three nights. I then spent the entire day (1100-15th/0300) out at work.

1. One of the biggest challenges we face today is time management and it does get difficult to adhere to schedules, routines or diets when you work odd hours.
2. But difficult does not mean impossible and it is therefore crucial that any change in lifestyle is easy and one is able to incorporate it in the daily grind.
3. I'm not losing any weight. seems stagnated at 77 kgs.
4. This days seems the day when the scales have tipped over. I now stand committed to completing my 21 days since I have come so far to now go back to my old ways and make it an effort gone waste.

Quote for the day - Every weight loss program, no matter how positively it’s packaged, whispers to you that you’re not right. You’re not good enough. You’re unacceptable and you need to be fixed - Kim Brittingham

Day 14 of 21 - 16.08.17

Weight check - Ok 76.5

Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1831
Calories burnt - 0
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D): +239(D)

Thoughts/Observations

1. My last day off before my 4 day swing at work. Was out the entire day on a picnic with family. My wife packed us a vegetable avocado sandwich for lunch. It is definitely easier when your partner supports you in your goals and is equally interested in eating healthy and staying fit.
2. Although I had vegetarian meals, I still felt bloated in the evening. Maybe I've eaten too much bread?

Myth buster -
Starving myself is the best way to lose weight
Crash diets are unlikely to result in long-term weight loss. In fact, they can sometimes lead to longer term weight gain. The main problem is that this type of diet is too hard to maintain. You may also be missing out on essential nutrients as crash diets can be limited in the variety of food consumed. Your body will be low on energy, and may cause you to crave high-fat and high-sugar foods. This can lead to eating those foods and more calories than you need, causing weight gain. From - www.nhs.uk


Quote for the day -
I am a better person when I have less on my plate - Elizabeth Gilbert

Day 16 of 21 (18.09.17)

Weight check - Ok 76.5
Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1888
Calories burnt - 0
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D): +182(D)

Thoughts/Observations :

1. I forgot to take my phone to work. Hence, no photos! It worked as a nice information detox as well not instinctively checking my phone every hour for updates.
2. After 15 days of following the programme, I now miss the routine of taking pics before meals. This proves the theory that anything repeated over a period of time becomes a habit. In my case it took 14 days to form this particular one.

Quote for the day - An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate - Criss Jami

Day 18 of 21 (20.08.17)

Weight check - Ok 77.1
Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1539
Calories burnt - 0
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D): +531(D)

Thoughts/Observations :
1. In between my two night shifts today. Got home at 6:30 and had a good breakfast before going to sleep fir a couple of hours.
2. My brain again fired a signal for a dessert feed after lunch. Told it politely to suck on an ice-cube! In fact I hovered around the chocolate box to see if the urge would get stronger but surprisingly I saw myself pulling away from the sweets. My mind has realised that desserts are of no great benefit for the body and the rewards for staying away are so much more greater.
3. I'm nearing the end of my 21 days challenge and I do feel good about myself for having followed through with my commitment. Health wise too I feel great and eliminating non-veg from most of my meals has made me more energetic.


Eating is perhaps the single most important act for one's yoga practice, because nourishment of the body's tissues forms a foundation for nourishment of the mind and emotions. One way to think about this is to imagine devoting your days to practice while feeding yourself nothing but sugar and caffeine. What effect would that have? It's easy to see that a balanced, calm mind is much easier to come by if you commit yourself to nourishing your body properly, just as you commit yourself to asana, Pranayama, and meditation. But what exactly does it mean to nourish yourself properly? Just how do you eat like a yogi?

In the Ayurvedic tradition, foods that are considered sattvicinclude most vegetables, ghee (clarified butter), fruits, legumes, and whole grains. In contrast, tamasic foods (such as onions, meat, and garlic) and rajasicfoods (such as coffee, hot peppers, and salt) can increase dullness or hyperactivity, respectively. But maintaining a diet that keeps your body light and your mind clear doesn't necessarily mean eating only sattvic foods. What is best for you and what in the end will best support your yoga practice is informed by your constitution (known in the Ayurvedic tradition as vikriti) and your current state (prakriti). From - www.yogajournal.com


Quote for the day - Hunger gives flavour to the food - Amit Kalantri

Day 20 of 21 - 22.08.17

Weight check - Ok 76.9
Food logging - OK
Exercise - Nil
Calories Target - 2070
Calories consumed - 1997
Calories burnt - 446
Calories Excess (E) or Deficits (D): +519 (D)


Thoughts/Observations:

1. The penultimate day of my personal challenge. I'm glad I was able to follow through on my promise to log each meal and check my weight each day for 21 days in a row. No changes to diet, no exercise routine to follow. Just plain old passive observation of my body's needs and urges.
2. I went for a run after weeks of zero running. Running has always been my passion and one of the reasons I intend to lose weight and get in good shape because I see myself going triathlons and ultra marathons in due course.
3. I ran 5kms and had my personal best time of all despite the long sabbatical.
4. It is funny how quickly the body adapts to anything that is thrown at it. I think it is called muscle memory, isn't it - The ability for the body to repeat a certain task better than it had done it earlier?
5. I don't ever remember my body craving a big pizza or a monster burger after any kind of physical workout. The power gels and bananas work fine to satiate the appetite and ample water takes of hydration. The body at its optimum has all it needs - fresh oxygen to all the cells thanks to the deep breaths and increased blood circulation, a direct result of the exercise.
6. The irony of it all is that when I overeat, I feel less inclined to workout, which in turn manifests itself as excess weight on my frame. Put simply, I know I need to burn more and consume fewer calories. But that may yet the most difficult challenge for most of us. I think somewhere down the line we have forgotten that eating has always been for sustenance and nourishment, not for pleasure.


Quote for the day- Eating is more than a fix, it's nature's way to nourish cells - it's a way to extend life. Don't give a natural body unnatural food - Nancy S. Mure

So, here we are. The last day of my 21 day challenge where I vowed to do the following:


1) Photograph each meal.

2) Check and write down my weight every morning.

3) Take a photo of my body every 7 days.

4) Listen to my body. Observe my cravings impersonally and understand my body's real urges.

5) Share my story and my progress regularly in this forum.

I intentionally did not set any regiment for diet or for exercise. Rather it was my intention to let my sub-conscious (higher self?) and my mind lead me on the right path, merely by being more aware and at the same time understand the hurdles that stood in the way .

Well I lost just under two kilos in the first two weeks and after that my weight kind of stood firm at 76 Kg. I have realised that most of my dietary intake has not been the most conducive for good health and this has been largely because of my current habits and prior mental conditioning.


What did I learn so far? Here are my thoughts/ observations:


1) Time flies - Whether I set a goal or not, whether I eat and go fat or I choose to be mindful about my habits and lead a healthy lifestyle, time will certainly move ahead. Twenty one days will turn into twenty one weeks and before I know it I will have arrived twenty one years on. The person I will meet will be the person I shape up to be today. Will I be a puffing and wheezing old bloke confined to watching the world from his window or will I be a sprightly fella doing the Hawaii Ultra marathon?

2) Habits are formed in 21 days - I agree. In the last week of my challenge, I was logging and recording almost instinctively.

3) Mindfulness Diet = Healthy Eating - Yes it works. At least for me. The minute I pause to look down at my food, I question myself about some of things that are on the plate. These last 21 days, I have been eating a lot of vegetarian meals and haven't missed meat products as much.

4) Moving towards / Moving away values - My mind works best with images. I believe that if we start with a strong enough reason then no goal is impossible. The driving force however is either the avoidance of pain or the anticipation of gain. I created vivid images in my mind of a fat and old 'me' sitting on the beach, fully clothed trying to hide my beer belly when other flaunted their ripped bodies. I wish to move away from being a guy embarrassed about my physical appearance to the person who revels in pushing the boundaries of human endurance. I was also moving towards a compelling visual image of myself in harmony with the universe and living a super charged, vibrant life every single moment.

5) Healthy eating is challenging - The food industry is where smoking was way back in the 70's. There was a phase back then were smoking was considered fashionable and a sign of masculinity. Look where it landed us. Today, the inviting glow of the famed 'Golden Arches', the lure of sugar-loaded fizzy drinks and the constant association of most social event with tonnes of food, flowing alcohol and an assortment of sweets is the strongest form of auto-suggestion there is and one that we are unable to avoid. Heaven knows, I have constantly felt the urge to order a take away in these last few weeks but consciously avoided the trap.

6) Eager for Results - I caught myself looking in the mirror on more than one occasion with eager anticipation, which soon turned into dejection, because I failed to see any change in the way I looked. But then I asked myself a simple question - How can over four decades of neglect to the body be undone in matter of three weeks?

7) It is easy to trick the brain - The brain is a dark and grey mass of trillions of neurons firing away in a zillion different combinations. The only thing it believes in is the thing I want it to believe. If I picture biting into a hot juicy burger whilst actually nibbling on a plain slice of toasted bread, then that's what the poor machine imagines it to be so.

8) Goal setting works - Whether I am training for a marathon or setting a 21 day diet plan, my body, mind and soul combine forces to keep me focused.

9) Sharing progress helps - The good thing about facing challenges in today's age is that we do not need to do this alone. There is a big community of like minded people to help us stay on course. Posting my progress on this platform has been one of the main reasons I was able to achieve my goal.

10) The Mind is an Ally - I've realised that first-hand during this programme. It works in mysterious ways and provides subtle signals to remind me of my goals.

Final Analysis :
I've always known this even before my 21 days challenge but I am much more certain that in my quest to stay fit and healthy, I face an intimidating and formidable enemy, a three headed monster - much like Cerberus , the three headed hound of Hades, menacing the gluttons who are doomed to spend eternity in the third circle of Dante's hell.

AA) Sugar (It seems to be everywhere today). Someone mentioned the other day that now a days there are more people dying of obesity than of starvation and most of the health issues are directly or indirectly linked to these evil crystals of doom and damnation.

BB) Meal sizes - How did we turn from eating small bird portions to wolfing down mega meals that would put a bear into early hibernation? According to one interesting comparison (LINK), in one day we consume nearly 1,600 calories more than if we had consumed the same food but in portion sizes served about twenty years ago!

CC) Lifestyle - We live in a world where most of us our confined to our desks most of the times and if we need to expend energy like our ancestors who tilled the fields, we have got to incorporate exercise or health routines which means an investment of time and effort which makes it a little hard to do without a strong commitment.


So there it is. A summation of my experience after 21 days of my mindfulness eating challenge. It's not really the end for me though. In fact this tiny step marks a new chapter in my life where I promise to treat myself better that I have have done so far, to always strive to improve my health and fitness, and maybe someday raise myself from the third circle of hell only to ascend to experience the beauty and abundance of paradise.

#theevolvingbackpacker #zeninmybackpack

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