I know I know, I am very late to post this, September is already past and we are almost nearing mid of October. But, its never too late to share the good things with people whom we care about.

As many of you know the last few days of September were quite busy as I happened to take part in 9 days of Blogathon which was my first ever Blog writing and Insta micro-blogging challenge. I did not anticipate the Blogathon to be that much tedious and tiring.

But the name says it all, Blogathon is Blogging Marathon and these are supposed to be hectic as well as challenging.

Well, I am happy and a little bit sad too, happy because I took the Weight Loss Challenge, and sad as I was not able to complete it as planned. I updated about my workout journey till the 2nd week, (>> Click here << to read about it), but I almost ditched the last 2 weeks, although not completely but there was no fixed schedule that I followed neither was there any Cardio that I did.

I am writing this post to share the final snippets of my September journey, people behind it’s success and the much awaited results.

But, before sharing anything else, I want to let everyone know that I am feeling much healthier and my stamina has greatly improved which is like a bonus of losing weight. So, the whole credit of the month goes to my mom and my hubby for being so supportive and understanding at every stage.

They are the ones who motivated me each day to keep going and they are the ones who encouraged me with all the love and good vibes which I needed every day.

As you know, I stayed at my mom’s house for the whole month of September and that means a lot more work for her and no rest at all in return. She took the complete responsibility of taking care of Nemit from making him feed healthy nutritious homemade food to playing with him and keeping him engaged in so many educational activities. I can never do this at her age, her energy level is commendable. Thanks, Mumma.

And my hubby, he is a real hero and a sweetheart, no I am not saying this just like that. I really mean it. Sumit never stays away from us, if I come to mom’s house he accompanies us and stays with us, even if that requires him to travel 2 hours to reach his office. But this time I wanted him to stay at home with Caesar and after much discussion, he agreed. We took this pic on a Friday when he came directly from his office to the Sports complex to pick me up. It was a pleasant surprise. Thanks, hubby.

Alright now coming back to the weight loss challenge, let me first introduce you all to the lady behind The Tabata. (What? Don’t you know what is TABATA? Oh My God, then you are missing on everything. >> Click here << to get enlightened).

My aerobics trainer ‘Rekha Sharma‘ is the person who introduced me to the Tabata workout for the very first time and included this in our daily aerobic sessions, which I consider to be the main reason for my weight loss.

She is a true inspiration to many women like me as she herself has a story to tell about her weight loss journey.

Can you believe she is a MOM and has 2 teenager kids. If you will meet her you will say she has the energy level of a teenager. She’s been gyming since 10 years now. What a transformation!

Her mantra for weight loss is –

• Fitness – Follow a workout routine
• Lifestyle – Bring in a few lifestyle changes
• Passion – Make workout your passion

She says she has nothing special about her but that’s all about being modest. Isn’t it? She is a personal trainer and a passionate dancer. I can bet you will drool over her brilliant dance moves. You can check out her Insta handle here >> Click <<

The BIG REVEAL

You all must be thinking I am talking about everything and everyone but the results. Yes, the result of Weight loss September challenge. Oh and yes the result of Blogathon too!

I took the September challenge to lose 3 Kgs weight in 30 days but I got the opportunity to participate in Navratri Blogathon which I didn’t want to miss, so I had to leave my workout mid-way. But I was not sad as it was a win-win for me, 20 days of Workout and 9 days of Blogathon. (2-in-1 fun)

And the Results of September Challenge are –

20 days of Workout – I lost 2 kgs + 2 inches (followed mindful eating with regular workout which included swimming and aerobics)

You can read all my September challenge – workout posts >> HERE <<

9 days of Blogathon – Won the Insta Microblog Contest and will be getting a hamper from The Moms Co.

You can read all my 9 Days of Womanhood Blogathon posts >> HERE <<

I am thankful to my family and friends, who were always there to support me through my September Challenge and I am so grateful to my lovely readers who liked reading my posts and blogs which motivated me and kept me going through the whole 9 hectic days of Blogathon. Thanks for all the love!

And special thanks to the Blogathon Hosts for making this whole event a huge success – Mummasaurus, My Little Muffin, The Mom Sagas, The Reading Momster. 

This Weight loss and Blogathon September challenges that I took part in were life-changing experiences for me. Have you experienced anything like this, which was totally unexpected and changed you for better? Anything that left you motivated to try more new avenues and test your limits. Share with me in the comments below! Would love to read your stories.

The post September Challenge – Weightloss and Blogathon appeared first on Growing With Nemit.

Hello Friends, hope you all are finding my posts good to read and I am sure some of you can relate to them too. The series I am doing ‘September Challenge-My Weight Loss Journey’ is very close to my heart, the efforts I am putting in my workout sessions are genuine and I really really want to leave my old self and see myself as a Happy, Healthy and Fit mommy at the end of this month.

I know the fact that losing weight is not easy especially when you are a mom having a baby who needs your attention 24 hours 7 days a week, when you are a woman and have to deal with quirky hormonal issues every now and then and above all when you feel like a hungry lioness all the time even after getting all your meals on time.

This is getting difficult and more challenging as the second week of my journey has ended; I want to take a moment rather I would take this whole post to reflect on what is going on behind the scenes of this journey and what else I am doing to make it work. Hope to get lots of positive vibes and motivational comments to pump up my weight loss journey.

We have this beautiful Floral Yoga mat from Strauss, you can check it here for more details!

To start with, I want to share my routine and what changes I have made in my diet to complement my work out regime.

Routine

• My work-out week starts from Tuesday, yes because Sports Complex stay closed on Sundays and Mondays.
• Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat – Morning 45 mins swimming session.
• Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri – Evening 60 mins Aerobics class.
• Rest of the days I stick to 15-45 mins of Walking. These days are my rejuvenation days and I prepare my body and mind for the next week.

Diet

I am not dieting; I can’t as I said earlier I feel hunger pangs all the time and my toddler still breastfeeds.

• Before and after work-out meals play a crucial role, pre-workout snack is important to fuel the muscles and provide enough energy to stay on your toes through the session. What snack to choose and the portion size depend on the intensity of the workout. Similarly, post-workout recovery snack is as important to replenish the lost carbohydrate stores of our body and proteins for muscle recovery.

• Swimming is considered a light low impact workout; hence I stick to a banana only, 30 mins prior to my session. After a 45 min swimming session, I take a glass of skimmed milk without sugar, and after an hour indulge in light breakfast.

• Aerobics is more intense cardio; I take handful of mix nuts and a serving of any fruit 30 mins prior to session. After a high intensity workout one should take carbohydrates and proteins within 30 mins after finishing the session. I take a glass of milk shake with 3-4 Threptin biscuits.

To know more about about these high calorie protein supplement, Click Here!

• I am going really light with my breakfast and dinner but take a good lunch which mostly includes 1 chapatti, 1 small bowl of rice, 1 small bowl of dal, 1 serving of vegetable, salad and yogurt.

• Keeping your body hydrated is equally important to bring the best out of your workout. Don’t eat snack and drink water simultaneously as that can result in some nasty enzymes develop in your stomach and make your body feel bloated or can result in acidity. Always have water at least 15-20 mins after your pre and post workout snacks.

That’s the routine and diet I am following. Now that I have already shared some facts and tips about walking and swimming in my previous post – Story behind the weight, it’s time to know more about Aerobics- my hectic evening workout sessions.

Aerobics

• Any activity which is done more than a few minutes while heart, lungs and muscles work harder and lots of sweating is there, is known as ‘Aerobic exercise‘, also known as ‘Cardio‘.

• Aerobic exercise can help prevent or reduce the chance of developing some cancers, diabetes, depression, cardiovascular disease, and osteoporosis.

• An aerobic exercise plan should be simple, practical, and realistic. Specific equipment (such as cardio machines) may be used but is not necessary for successful aerobic exercise.

Below is the snapshot I took from my trainer’s diary, the day when I almost fainted from the exhaustion of 5-minute high intensity fat burning ‘Tabata Workout‘.

Let me share some tiring facts about HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)- Tabata Workout-

• This is the hardest exercise to choose where one can experience symptoms like passing out after being repeatedly punched by someone, yes that’s what I felt during a 15-minute session.

• ‘But that’s worth it‘- as exclaimed by my trainer. The results you can get from 5-minute of Tabata are equivalent to an hour of running.

• The trick is to choose 5 different cardio activities and go as hard as you can, one activity for 50 secs and then rest for 10 secs, then second activity for 50 secs and rest for 10 secs, continue same with all the 5 activities.

• Beginners can start with 5-minutes of tabata twice a week, but as my trainer is quite strict and know that we have stubborn fat and during a 5-min workout we will work for only 2-3 min and will spend rest of the time pulling ourselves up, she started with a 15-min workout.

So, the 15-min workout had 3 sessions of 5-min each, having different set of exercises.

Session-1 (5 exercises to be done for 50 secs each with 10 secs break in between)

1. 50 secs- Jumping Jacks –> 10 sec rest
2. 50 secs- Jumping Squats –> 10 sec rest
3. 50 secs- Plank –> 10 sec rest
4. 50 secs- High knees –> 10 sec rest
5. 50 secs- Wall sit –>10 sec rest

Source- Google Images

Session-2 (5 exercises to be done for 50 secs each with 10 secs break in between)

1. 50 secs- Burpees –> 10 sec rest
2. 50 secs- Sumo Squats –> 10 sec rest
3. 50 secs- Bicycle Crunches –> 10 sec rest
4. 50 secs- Climbers –> 10 sec rest
5. 50 secs- Lunges –>10 sec rest

Source- Workoutlab.com

Session-3 (5 exercises to be done for 50 secs each with 10 secs break in between)

1. 50 secs- Jump rope –> 10 sec rest
2. 50 secs- Knee push ups –> 10 sec rest
3. 50 secs- Plank twists –> 10 sec rest
4. 50 secs- Climbers –> 10 sec rest
5. 50 secs- On the spot jogging –>10 sec rest

Source- Pinterest

Now let me share the truth also, I was almost dead in the last session and couldn’t stand even for 2 mins. So, I will say start with only 1 session of 5-minutes twice a week and then 2 sessions of 5-minutes twice in the next week and increase it so on and as per your capability. BUT….

Always Listen to your Body, The Body never Lies.

Stop and take rest if you feel like dying…I mean don’t over-exert yourself at any point of time, push your body to the limits you can handle.

And do you want to know what Nemit & Nani do back at home while I sweat it out at the sports complex? Scroll down…

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Happiness is…….doing nothing still having so much fun!

I am gearing up for next week’s workout session, hoping to see some weight loss in the 3rd week of September Challenge.

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The post Hectic workout sessions – September Challenge appeared first on Growing With Nemit.