On shaping up by eating at home

I went to the fish market near Khar Station last weekend and came back with a bag full of mackerel (bangda) , Indian salmon (rawas), kingfish (surmai), pomfret and rohu.

Since then my dinner updates on twitter (you can find me @finelychopped) would consist of things like mackerel smeared in Anjali Koli’s Koli masala and grilled for 10 min, rawas on a bed of chopped mushroom, spring onion, capsicum and sprouts, marinated in soya and chilli sauce and baked for 12 min, kingfish smeared with turmeric, chilli, cumin and salt and grilled for 12 min, pomfret marinated in a chilli, coriander, garlic and salt chutney and grilled for 10 min. (Most of the grills are at 200 c and chicken makes for good grills too but need half an hour). 

The advantage with grilled fish is that I don’t mind eating it with wholewheat rotis. The Bengali in me needs rice with fish curries plus the fish in our curries are fried.

So we have been eating a lot of grilled fish at home with vegetables on the side. 

Yesterday, our friend Gia, showed us how to make broccoli delicious and crunchy with some garlic, a tablespoon of olive oil and a touch of butter in a pan and by covering it with a lid so that it cooks in its own steam. It is seasoned just with salt and pepper and tastes delicious and neither K nor I eat broccoli otherwise. Gia recommends adding some sesame seeds too.

I have drastically cut down on eating out. My weekday lunches at home consist of the vegetarian health dabbas from Vital Foods which often have brown rice and dalia instead of regular white rice.

In addition to this I have become pretty regular with my walks. About 40 mins a day 3,4 times a week and have once again resumed going to the Yoga Institute at Santa Cruz. Both are such mood lifters.

I have managed to cut down on desserts. I have a couple of dates after dinner and don’t feel the need for a dessert after that. 

The results showed when I met some people recently who said that it looks like I have slimmed down. 

Such a change from a couple of months back when everyone I met would say that I looked like I had put on weight.

I have lost a couple of kilos recently but my clothes feel a bit looser which is a relief. It was getting tough to find stuff that fitted well while shopping of late.

GOQii #BeSummerReady

Another thing which has helped is going on the GOQii #BeSummerReady programme. We got a band to wear on one’s wrist which keeps counts of my steps. This has helped me be a bit more conscious about my walks. There is a trainer attached to me with whom I had a chat. She told me about the need to drink water more frequently which I wasn’t doing. The band has a counter where one fills in one’s regular water counts and reminders come to drink water. Everyday there are health tips from the fitness coach on the iPhone app which gives ideas on what to do stay fit. One day she wrote to me about the benefits of spinach and I requested Banu, our cook, to make a palak bhaji with the kheema that she made for dinner. The coach also gave a tip on not to have fruits after dinner which made me stop my post dinner chilled water melon binges and bring it ahead earlier in the day. There are daily updates from her on the app asking me about what I am eating, whether I am drinking water, whether I am walking, which keep me on my toes.

Thankfully the changes they have asked to make are gradual and are comparatively easy to follow. 

Being told that one looks like one has lost weight is frankly addictive and spurs me on to stick to this routine.

I still have miles to go of course but am looking forward to the journey.

Note: This is a sponsored post.

This is the link to the GOQii site