The main reason I started this blog is to share my experiences with you all. I am a content writer, which means my daily work is to sit in front of the desktop, look at the screen and create blogs and web articles. I have zero activity the whole day, and also it is very stressful. In this blog, I will take you through my one-month journey, of how I managed my diet while working from home.
From last year right from the break of the Coronavirus pandemic, I have been working from my home, and it comes with a lot of lifestyle changes.
There is no hurry to do anything, and you make a habit of sleeping late at night and then waking up late in the morning. The same happened with me, and it turned into my complete routine.
This lifestyle change during my work from home has led to various health issues and a lot of weight gain. So, all those who are like me can relate to my story.
The pandemic has made me realize that food is the remote worker’s worst enemy. Whenever I feel bored, the first thing that I do is to open the refrigerator and check what food is stored there. During the whole of 2020, I used to have ice cream or chocolates so that I could manage my cravings.
Mistaking boredom with feeling hungry is a common habit that most of us have. My lockdown partner for the complete 2020 was dark chocolates, cakes, and lots of biscuits, at any time, with or without tea or coffee.
I will not feel ashamed to say, that I used to have biscuits as after lunch dessert.
So, this me, not all the time.
If I had a deadline, or a meeting, how my eating habits got affected?
Now let me tell you my situation when I had a deadline to meet in my office or a meeting that would last for an hour.
Meeting deadlines or attending meetings from home was like I can compromise my breakfast or my lunch.
So, when I work with full concentration, I lose track of time. So, the moment I complete my task or the meeting was over, it was too late for breastfast or lunch. I remember someday having lunch at 4.30 pm.
The result is, indigestion, bloating, and in turn, relying on antacid or ajwain.
I do not remember spending one single day without experiencing a burning sensation in the throat after having lunch during last year and this year too until I made a decision for a positive lifestyle change.
My physical changes during a lockdown?
The lockdown due to the pandemic was announced almost suddenly in March 2020. But before that, I was an active person. I was doing my daily exercise, was walking for almost 30 minutes daily, used to have timely food, but these changed.
No exercise, almost spending the day in front of the desktop, and of course increase in food intake, led to a lot of weight gain.
For three months, I did not exercise, and then I realized that this cannot go on. So, I started my exercises online.
But 1-hour exercise was not giving me the results that I expected. Of course, the reason was my unusual food habit, I had not been able to maintain my meal timing, and was having a lot of unnecessary foods.
When you suddenly gain weight, you have your well-wishers really complimenting you.
Well, I don’t by any means support body shaming. My weight gain resulted in a series of health issues, like indigestion, acidity, acne breakouts, and feeling uncomfortable.
How did I manage my diet while working from home?
The person whom I am extremely thankful for my lifestyle change is Anit Bose. It was a month ago, that I chose him as my lifestyle coach, and his advice really worked for me.
It was in April 2021, I used to daily look at myself in the mirror after my exercise and think that why am I not losing weight?
Why am I not being able to consume normal foods without having issues of indigestion? What it is that I could do!
Anit Bose took me through a journey. Speaking with him was the most self-awakening experience I had.
I still remember having a conversation with him for the first time over the phone, and he asked me why do you want me to guide you, what are your expectations? Is it weight loss, or a healthy lifestyle?
I told him that I want a healthy lifestyle, and of course, if he could it could help me lose weight.
So, he heard details of my lifestyle my food preferences, and how I spend my day. And the session started.
What was the 1 monthly lifestyle change session with Anit Bose like?
It was the best 1 month, in my complete work from home duration. speaking with Anit gave me more strength and determination to achieve my goals.
He prepared my diet chart and thoroughly made me understand how to proceed with my diet, the calories I need to intake daily, my exercise routine, and also my cheat days.
I must mention that Anit is very particular about understanding the present body and health condition, and he never suggests any kind of dietary plans without certain important health routine tests.
Once I did my routine tests like kidney, liver tests, hormonal tests, thyroid tests, and vitamin tests, based on the report he prepared the diet chart for me.
By 15 days I could see the results, my body began to respond to the diet and my body felt light and tighter. And, I was quite particular about my diet plans and followed each diet mentioned by him.
The best thing is whenever I needed clarification, or to keep myself motivated Anit was always by my side.
He explained clearly how our body functions and how we should overcome obstacles, whether it’s losing belly fat or any kind of mental illness.
What my lifestyle change program taught me?
Many of you may think that dieting means a strict diet, and you may be prohibited to enjoy certain foods that you love. But this notion is simply wrong, and it was best explained to me by Anit.
He told me that dieting does not mean, simply refraining from having unhealthy diets but restricting them and intaking foods in measured proportions.
After he explained me this I realized the mistakes that I used to make. Though I do not eat any types of meat or don’t have any kind of love for foods like biriyani, egg rolls, I used to think that why is it that I have a protruded tummy and mostly bloated tummy.
Also, Anit explained the importance of having food at the correct time, which is a 3 hours window. And also, having food in the correct proportions.
Here are a few important facts that I learned in my lifestyle change program:
- Eating healthy without giving up foods that I love
- Maintaining a healthy proportion of each food
- Having food at the correct time and the ability to maintain it
- Keeping my body hydrated during all time
- If you feel really hungry rather than opting for biscuits and other items opt for healthy salads
- Make exercise a very important part of your life
- Sleeping on time is very important
By the end of one month, when I did my body measurements, I lost 1 inch and was less bulky than I previously was. Most importantly, my digestive problems like bloating and acid reflux dropped to like 90%.
I do not need to rely on any kind of Ajwain or Antacid, for which I am seriously thankful to Anit.
So, this was my complete 1-month fitness challenge with my Lifestyle coach.
10 Tips to a healthy lifestyle
Now you know, how I made a smart move during this 2021 lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic and got into healthy living.
Below I will mention 10 tips for a healthy lifestyle that I learned in my session. Of course, I am still following them.
1. Always Think Positive, keep motivating yourself for the best
When you gain weight, it’s our society that main you feel different, and humiliated. Though I believe there is no reason to care about their words.
You must think positively and believe in yourself. It’s you who needs to buy a dress a size larger not them. It’s you who going to look chubby and cute.
Therefore, keep yourself motivated and close your doors for negative people. But in case you want a healthy lifestyle, not weight loss, then you must choose a lifestyle change program for yourself.
A lifestyle change program, not only helps you get on a healthy diet, lose excess body fat but also, helps you to stay motivated, and overcoming health issues and mental challenges.
2. Get on healthy eating, limit unhealthy eating
The very big mistake that we make is not having control over the portions that we eat. If I start eating chips, and I like that taste then I will empty the complete packet.
Or suppose I love eating biscuits, by no means I will stop before I have almost 5-6 cookies.
Similarly, when you have Biriyani or other oily foods, it is very important to prepare your mind, and say, that you will only have so and so amount and not more than that.
The lifestyle change program gave me my proportions of food and tied me in a chart and surely it helped me in overeating and also limit my foods.
3. Try at least 30 minutes of exercise in a day
I exercise for 1 hour a day, and sometimes I also go for a 30-minute walk in the morning. Exercise has helped me a lot, in changing the way I think, I became more patient, my anger issues are less now. Also, I had allergic Rhinitis, and pranayam reduced my frequent sneezing a lot.
4. Relax your body with proper sleep
When it comes to proper sleep, Anit’s words always ring in my mind., you have to sleep by 11 to 11.30 pm. I used to sleep from 1.30 AM to 2 AM and sometimes 3 AM at night.
I know it’s bad, but that was my lifestyle before I started the lifestyle change program. Now I try my best to go to bed by 11.30 PM or by max 12 AM.
5. Keep yourself hydrated drink a good amount of water
Drinking a good amount of water is very important to keep your body hydrated and wash off toxic from the body. We should drink at least 2 liters of water in a day. What I do is keep a water bottle by the side of my table and drink almost 250ml of water at once.
In order to maintain my water intake, I try to drink water or water-based fluids, before I get thirsty.
Because as you get thirsty your body is already dehydrated. Also, I mix lemon and salt in my water, to keep myself more hydrated, and also lemon water is also beneficial for my health.
6. Reduce stress and try to be happy always
Stress has become a part of our life. Each one of us has a different reason to be stressed, but having too much stress in life releases a hormone called the stress hormones or corticosteroids.
Cortisol causes an increase in the heart rate and blood pressure, and long-term stress can give rise to many chronic diseases. Meditation helps me a lot in reducing my stress and balance my life.
7. Try to reduce screen time, and try to focus on your hobbies
Spending maximum time in front of the screen is a necessity for those who are into IT, but those who are not are simply addicted to the smartphone.
Online shopping, playing games, surfing social media, editing pictures, answering video calls, and there are so much to do over the phone. In fact, just to play games, or just to watch a movie, we do not even like to interact with parents and friends.
Sometimes I think, I have become an online shopping addict or an instagramholic, so now to reduce that I try to keep my phone away, and concentrate on my work.
I spend some with my mom or even go for a walk without my phone. These may not be the best ways to reduce my screen time, but these help me a lot.
8. Find someone to keep you motivated all day long
Motivation is very important. For me, motivation was Anit Bose, my lifestyle coach.
He spoke about certain facts to shape my life, he inspired me to get into a routine, and surely speaking with him means knowing so much about life, diet, and keeping your fitness.
9. Concentrate on losing the body fat, not on losing weight
When you lose fat, it makes you stronger, fitter, and healthier. You can easily fit into smaller size clothes, and also get rid of major diseases that are associated with obesity.
Therefore, go for sustainable methods and it will help you regulate your blood sugar, heart rate normal, give you better digestion, and also give you a better skin tone and hairs.
This fact was explained to me by Anit and surely I noticed the change in my one-month session.
10. Opt for healthy drinks like ginger tea, cinnamon tea, Fennel tea, green tea
Caffeinated drinks are not only drinks that can give you energy. In the whole day, you can opt for ginger tea, cinnamon tea, Fennel tea, and of course green tea which has various health benefits.
Making all these healthy hot drinks are very easy, all you have to boil the water and then add ginger to make ginger tea.
Add Cinnamon and boil the water till the color changes to make cinnamon tea.
For Fennel tea, boil water and fennel seeds keeping the lid closed. Green tea is the healthiest drink known to manage the metabolism rate, and I start my day with Green tea.
Wrapping up
So, that’s all about how I managed my diet during “Work From Home”. By making the lifestyle changes I have become more fitter and healthier, and now I feel more confident about my eating habits.
I do not have to think about whether I should eat this food or not. I properly follow my plans and know what to eat in a day, and how to control my mind. Also, my cheat days take care of my food craving for so-called non-healthy diets.
The above-mentioned details are changes that I followed and helped in making my lifestyle better.
But if you are planning to make lifestyle changes, please do so, after proper consultation with experts.
Hope this blog will inspire you to take better decision in your life, and in case you have any queries, feel free to comment below, I will definitely answer the queries.
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