The Weekend

I usually am quite planned with my meals, ensuring that I prepare them the day before but the weekend just calls for relaxation and meal-making ties you up into 2 hours of dedicated kitchen attachment which, I don't really like putting In. As a result my weekend meals get a little skewed and in all honesty, I try not to go too much overboard.

Friday:

Let me start the story with a prequel of what happened on Friday. I began my weekend like any other, choosing for a rather delayed awakening at 10 am followed by quick breakfast making. I usually indulge into the slightly taxing Oats Pancakes, but I was hungry and needed hunger to be killed fast, hence turning back to the otherwise work-day breakfast of Egg whites lightly fried first, then stuffed between Wholemeal bread slices and put into the grill till the outsides are nice and crispy and the insides are really soft. The result is shown below.

Fast broken and hunger quelled, I then proceed to do what I do best, which usually involves engaging couch potato mode. The Headquarters (to be henceforth used whenever I refer to my parents) buzz on Google Talk and I readily answer engaging into a long conversation over the tiny details of my newly rented house (which I haven't moved into yet). 

Time passes by and the room mate realizes its Friday Boot Camp Time (Heading to the Gym for Circuit Training), and off we trotter. What follows is an excruciating workout for 2 and a half hours, proceeding which it is decided that the next two hours are to be spent having a swim. The Roomie indulges himself into a few laps and I engage couch potato mode, only with an added underwater extension this time. This is followed by a quick trip home to shower and freshen up again followed by a totally forgetful trip to the Wafi Mall, where the only memorable discovery was the Rooftop Gardens (Good Place to take your date for a date, Dubai Lads!). We then head back to Discovery Gardens and decide to hit Saravana Bhojan Shaala for Dinner, where we quickly equate the calories we lost in the morning's workout. Saravana is always ok for average Indian comfort food. Sabji scooped up with visibly dry chapatis. Everything Hot. I for one, am ready to walk into the place at any given time of the day provided that the meal is followed by a cup of their extremely awesome filter coffee. 

Saturday:

Note: While I technically get the day off, I had to put in an extra day at work and decided to spend this sunny little day working, like the ones to follow.

The Roomie decides to drop me to work as he is headed the same way, and we skip the joys of home breakfast for something we both love; a Subway imitation sandwich at 'Bakeria', the small food counter inside any Emarat Petrol Station. Note that they are ONLY at Emarat petrol stations, not EPPCO ones. The Sandwich costs a fraction of what its counterpart at Subway would cost, is much less greasier, even though it has similar vegetable options. Both of us go for the Tuna Sandwich. Another fact that I love is how the sandwich here is grilled firstly, on the outside, and secondly, after it has been prepared. Something I would really love to see Subway imitate (or they're going to lose me completely to Bakeria). The sandwich is accompanied by machine made Americano (forgettable).

I am then dropped to work, where I immerse myselves in the realms of my awesome job till the first pang of hunger creeps up the phone lines from the stomach till the brain. I am left to myself today, being tiffin-less. I recollect wanting to order something from Abu Ali, the Arabic restaurant round the corner a few weeks back and ring for a Hummus with pine nuts and an Eggplant Kebab. 

The Hummus turns out to be a tad too creamy for my taste. Too much Tahineh, and quite less Chickpeas in my opinion. The Eggplant Kebabs are a little sweet and quite nicely done. A welcome break from the stereotypical non-vegetarian grills.

Meal is Eaten. Brian is Happy. Brian goes back to work, not before arming himself with a cup of Green Tea.

Working Out is Working Out.

Hello all.

For any one who even mildly pays attention to my status updates and, of recent, photo uploads, on instagram may have realized or forced to realize that Brian Carvalho is now on the route to shedding the kilos.

I actually began my routine on the 1st of September and as I write this post it has been 1 month and 15 days since I am on a diet. Throughout much of my life I kept complaining that I simply couldn't exercise alone and wasn't motivated enough to do so. Turns out that this may have been right, though at the time it was more of a quick thought excuse.

I am working out with Keith, in whose house I have also been living for about two months at the beginning of the year and a little more than three months now. It was a simple sit down and talk at the beginning of it all. He simply wrote down all the things I absolutely love to eat and gorge on on a piece of paper and then wrote  'DO NOT EAT' on top of it all. But believe me, since the routine has begun, my cravings for those objects have actually been replaced by healthy and home made food like these yummy grilled egg sandwiches with garlic sprinkles and slivers of mayonnaise.

Lunch on most nights is as shown below. Grilled Fish/Chicken with Salad

Getting down to what matters; Exercise. I have taken up a gym membership with the MMA Fitness Club at Discovery Gardens. It costs me 299 AED for the first payment and 199 AED for every consecutive payment. Given my current economical situation this isn't too cheap but given my cutbacks on the extra crap I would be eating and comparing it to where I'm putting all that money in. It's worth it!

The Routine Keith uses fuses intense cardio sessions with a little bit of Mike Chang's After burn Exercises. Normal People will remember Mike Chang as that guy whose Six-pack shortcuts advertisements goes on to irritate them before they can get to watching their videos on YouTube  I have watched the a few of the set of videos without buying them, that is and there is some truth in what he says, but it finally works down to how an individual may perceive them. Throughout the work week we switch between days on the Treadmill clocking 999 calories while stopping for a few seconds after completing every consecutive 100 calories to wipe up and sip on water. The other days, we initiate a moderate workout of up-to 300 calories on the treadmill before switching to, depending on the day, either sets using Dumbbells or Barbells. Mondays and Thursdays are exceptions to the workout because I have evening classes from 6 to 9 on these days, but i try to make do by walking home from Discovery Street 1 to Street 12 (Where I live). Its quite a distance and decreases the guilt of not being able to properly exercise on that day. Fridays and Saturdays see us usually at home, lazing around and sleeping because if we are awake we would feel the urge to eat. On these days, in the evenings, we choose a spot from either the Gym or home to do the Super Set Exercises which has anything between 2 to 5 gymnastic exercises performed continuously lasting 20 seconds each and then followed by a minute or less of rest between each set. These form a total of 10 sets, which ultimately aim to push the muscles well past us finishing the exercise.

At the end of a 1000 Calorie Cardio Burn

Coming down to the metrics. I haven't really revealed numbers relating to my weight to pretty much anyone because i used to hate weighing scales and the self-introspection they promote, but I would now like to put it out there. I started on the 1st of September at 121 Kilos and am now down to 113. This essentially translates to a loss of 8 kilos since I first started. This has definitely shown its way with clothes that weren't fitting me previously fitting me now and I have managed to get hold of my stamina now which is a good thing.

Now the irritating part in the scheme of things is that for the past two weeks I am stuck at the 113 figure. More so because I'm pushing for muscle exercises and what I'm guessing is that any fat I lose is compensated for by the muscle mass I gain. I derive this conclusion from chats with colleagues in my office who are serious Gym junkies and who know what they do. Its got frustrating and is on my mind for the past few days. So I got to the one place where I wouldn't feel shy talking about it and also would like to express my frustration.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to let my well wishers know that I'm trying to do something worthwhile. Hopefully by the beginning of November I expect to hit the 111 mark.

Shukran for reading!