Millions of people struggle with weight loss issues & somehow can’t get the perfect recipe to a lifelong strategy that works. People try with numerous diets, fads & temporary measures to bring themselves to owning a beautiful body. But most people end up defeated and resign themselves to a life of just dreaming for a perfect body.
EAT RIGHT – Overview
Simply put, EAT RIGHT is a SELF designed system to lead and adapt your body to the perfect weight . . . . and maintain it for good. With most other diets, people adopt unnatural eating habits for a temporary period. Hence most diets fail in the long run as most people return to their regular eating habits. Whereas a self designed EAT right program aims to gradually change the very core of your eating habits and patterns for life and allows you to continue to enjoy your regular foods for life. With a EAT right program designed by you for your own self, Soon you should be able to be at peace with potatoes, ice creams & other sweets in acceptable portions.
Design & adopt a EAT RIGHT program along with a exercise of choice such as walking, running, cycling or similar. Ideally 60-90 min of exercise daily works like magic with a EAT RIGHT program and gives great results with gradual & consistent weight loss.
EAT RIGHT – Why
lots of people are overweight, which also brings along many undesired consequences such as diabetes, high cholesterol & more importantly a sedentary lifestyle, lack of energy & zeal in your daily life. If you are one of these then it is high time, you design your own EAT right program to change your life. Stop pursuing temporary fitness programs & diets as these are only going to last few days, weeks or at best a few months.
Eat RIGHT – The basic principles
- Eat 5 times a day. breakfast, mid-morning snack, Lunch, late afternoon snack & dinner.
- Never skip breakfast.
- Dinner between 7-8 PM is ideal.
- Get this very clear – Eat each meal – to keep you full till only the next meal.
- Even Good and healthy Foods have to be eaten in limits.
- “handful of dry fruits” mean 8-10 almonds or similar.
Eat RIGHT – Stage 1
Aim to lose weight – appr. 750 gms to 1 KG per week.
- When you start a EAT right program, just focus on eating 5 times a day along with 60 min of exercise.
- Eat sensibly.
- Cut out all oily foods, deserts from your daily food intake for about 4-6 months.
- Cut off the sugar from Tea / coffee. Learn to drink Coffee & Tea for its actual taste. don’t make it a sinful sugary syrup.
Breakfast suggestions
Oats with slim milk + 2 egg white omlette with 1 whole wheat bread
OR
oats with slim milk + 1 thick whole wheat paratha
OR
1 portion of poha / upma.
Tea / coffee without sugar
Mid morning snack
2 Marie biscuits with Tea / coffee
fruits
Lunch
2 rotis without ghee with 1 to 1.5 bowls of subzi or lentils like Chola, chole, mung etc
1 bowl of curd.
OR
2 chillas with 1 whole-wheat bread
OR
1 bowl of rice with veg curry or lentils.
plus 1 bowl of curd.
Evening snack
Apple, diet bhel or khakra
Dinner
2 rotis without ghee with 1 to 1.5 bowls of subzi or lentils like Chola, chole, mung etc
OR
Soup Plus grilled paneer Plus sautéed veggies
OR
2 whole-wheat pita breads with hummus
Always remember that you can eat your favourite foods in sensible portion sizes. Sincful foods to be kept at bare minimum in the first 6 months of your EAT RIGHT program.
Later in the program, home made fried foods & deserts can be eaten 2-3 times a week in small quantities. Mass produced foods, snacks – in packets are generally never healthy – irrespective of what the labels say. Best to be avoided. Don’t touch ready to eat snacks. Beware of foods with the HEALTHY tag. Limit intake.
In marriages, events – don’t touch the rich gravy laden foods at all. Look for daal, Rice, plain rotis, salads or similar. Avoid rich, high calorie deserts. opt for small portion of simple deserts or best, opt for fruits. As for the exercise part, it is very easy to set an exercise routine of 7 days a week rather than opting for 2-3 days of workout.
A 7-day routine sets up your body to follow and obey a system. With 3 days a week routine, you don’t allow the system to sink in & hence you might struggle to maintain a health routine.
So highly recommended that you exercise 6 days a week with 1 rest day.
Recommended exercise routines.
I would highly recommend exercises such as Cycling, swimming, Cycling, Walking or running. Probably a mix of all of above would be great.
The best part of doing a outdoor routine is that there is seldom any boredom when you are working out in nature. The feeling of being outdoors allows you to cover long distances, feel so good about yourself, meet other athletes & generally do a mix of different routes to keep boredom away.
If you have followed the stage 1 of your EAT RIGHT program for 4-6 months, you have a strong mind and are committed to change to a new body, a new lifestyle & a new YOU. stage 1 has now taught you to eat 5 times a day. Eat breakfast every day.
If you have reached your target weight, then you can step in to stage 2 where you can relax our eating regime a bit. By now, you know the optimal portion sizes for the different meals of the day. As mentioned earlier, even healthy foods have calories and should be eaten in sensible portions. The routine of 5 meals a day continues. Eating potatoes, rice or other high calorie foods in small portions as part of curries etc is ok. The fried avatar of potatoes such as chips should be eaten sparingly. Chips in packets are a strict no-no.
Eat RIGHT – Stage 2
Eating homemade desserts in small portions 2-3 times a week should be fine now.
You have come so far in your journey to re-orient, rejig your life. Probably it looks very easy now to continue this lifestyle & live a natural life where you have reset the food portions, desirable & undesirable foods & adjusted your habits accordingly.
The exercise part – 60-90 min a day continues. Probably it should become a important part of your life by now. At this stage, most people hate going through a day without their daily exercise ritual.
Together with a EAT RIGHT program, the exercises like cycling, running or others work like magic on your body’s sculpture as you would have found out by now.
Note : I have purposely kept jargon like carbs, protiens, calories at bare minimum. As this article is more about changing your mindset, shifting priorities and changing your life. There is no dearth of information about fitness on the internet and from experts. It is only when people make it too complicated and don’t seem to get fitness in to their skin that it fails.
GO AHEAD. Change your life. You will love the change & then go on to live the change.
The fitness myth
The fitness fad had led a lot of people to believe that they can achieve a fit body by just running, gyming, cycling or other sports.
So people start one or many of these exercise routines and yet continue to be obese, cant seem to lose weight & struggle with other health challenges despite pursuing active sporting lives.
I would love to hear feedback at chetan@thebikelife.in