My Weight Gain Program

I recently started this new program (not recent of course, this is my 4th week) to gain lean muscle and to bulk up.

Since this is completely different to my earlier program where my goal was to lose fat and become lean; I was in that program from Jan to june '11(6 months) and now started this new one.

Its fun pumping iron in the Gym and its difficult too; but I like it, like sweating and the shrieks and the shouts I do in the Gym.

As part of the program, I go thrice (min) per week with each day targeting specific muscle area.

day 1 - chest, triceps and shoulders

day 2 - back muscles, lats and biceps

day 3 - thigs, hips and bum

as soon as I started this new program, I started taking protien shake and creatine(sometimes).

I checked my weight yday and its not great improvement but there is an improvement.

I gained 1 kilo in 4 weeks.

Hurray!!

As part of the diet for the new program, I should just eat anything throught out the day irrespective of whether I am hungry or not.

I have an average appetite so cannot gulp more at a single point of time.

Here is what I am eating daily:

Early Morning: 2 scoops of international Protien with 200 ml of low fat milk

A single piece of bread with 20 gm of Nutella  and 100 gm of cornflakes with 20-40 gm of oats along with 100 ml of low fat milk

Mid Morning: Coffee with 50 ml of low fat milk

Afternoon: Lunch with white rice(50 gm), curry and 2 eggs;

twice a week i get chicken instead of eggs.

mid noon: snacks time!!! 150-200 gm of flavored yoghurt

Tea with 50 ml of low fat milk

100 gm of grapes with 50 gm of carrots

Evening brunch: protein shake with 50 gms of salted peanuts

Dinner: 50 gm of white rice with curry, a fruit, yoghurt(sometimes), protien shake(optional)

This is pretty long and I am trying to increase my calorie intake each day but couldn't possible do. I'll find out some more ways to increase it, otherwise I won't be able to grow huge.

Hope this helps those aspiring body builders who are yet to start training or just started.

We all want to be like Arnie but that's not possible, we'll continuously try to become what we will ultimately be

Bike trail - Lilydale to Warburton(Victoria, Australia)

I doubted if we could make this trip after two of the group dropped out unconditionally.
And the weather played its part too with continuous drizzles since early morning.
Nevertheless I wanted to do this as I wanted to prove a point.
And now here I am writing a post summary of the tour.
This was an amazing trip to the hills and the woods. A deep dive into the nature/forest and Victoria's grasslands.
We started a bit late, (scheduled start is 7:36 AM train but couldn't catch) caught our 8:36 AM train from Finders. 
Reached Lilydale station at approx 9:45 AM. 
The bike trail starts from Le Pine Funeral service, its just 2-3kms away from the station; we stopped at Subway (one of the mates was hungry), asked the whereabouts of the starting place and then we cycled.
On the way while cycling we stopped at a coffee shop and had coffee. Then 1 or 2 stops to catch breath(not me ofcourse), had some peanuts, (a shot of whisky as well to keep us warm). It was so freezing that I was shivering in between and my fingers just went numb.
I didn't have a problem at all with the slope and the hill but only with my fingers, they were so cold and started paining. My gloves are half covered(i use them for lifting weights in the gym) and I was wearing the bike short(with bum pad support).
With continuous drizzle all the way we were all shivering though my mates were in a better situation with Jeans and Jackets.
There's a down hill as well in between so its easy to ride, not much difficulty at all except for some places where its a little bit steep. 
We stopped in between for pics, the place is so beautiful with Yaks, Sheeps, grazing horses and green lands.
We went almost 16-17 kms from Lilydale station and then returned as we had to catch our 3 PM Ringwood station train.
On return we reached Lilydale station by 2:40 PM, boarded the 2:55 PM train to Ringwood and from there we caught the 3:16 PM flinders train.
Got off by 4 PM, handed over the rented bikes to the bikeshop, came back and here I am writing about our experience.
It was definitely a visit to this place with a bicycle. A must for every person who loves cycling and nature.
Thumbs up to all who made this trip a memorable one.

A perfect diet "in my own way"

yeah I know there is nothing called perfect but this is in my sense and perception till now.


yeah plenty of fiber everyday like the below:
have lentils (red, black,green, yellow), kidney beans (rajma), grean peas, channa
But all the above produce excessive gas in the intestine, especially channa and rajma.
I have had this flatulence problems with the above, but that is the side effect of eating fiber from these food items.
A good solution is to eat raw/cooked vegetables like carrots, broccoli, legumes(leaves), cucumber etc; these will keep you clean without gas and also provide you with sufficient fiber, minerals and vitamins.
Though peanuts, cashew, almonds are rich source of protein and fiber they have more fat %. so should be away from them.
if you see any peanut/cashew/almond/pista, the protein content would be 21 gm/100 gm but the fat would be 45 gm /100 gm; i think almond has more, 52 gm /100 gm and these have both saturated and unsaturated fats.
soya has a very high protein but produces excessive gas.
Then where do we get good protein?
from chicken, eggs, soya, beans
Have plenty of Dates each day, they are rich source of iron, zinc as well as fiber.
Oats should be either part of breakfast or supper they are the best low GI and slow energy releasers with plenty of fiber.
Have low fat mil (skim mil has zero fat but will be tasteless so difficult to have). milk gives you your daily intake of calcium
replace sugar with honey or brown sugar.
Replace white rice with brown rice; i've tried this as well but brown rice is same as the lentils, excessive gas. when I tried them they also caused pain in my abdomen so next time i'll take care if I want to have brown rice.
Then when I take bread, try to reduce the nutella content as it also has more fat than protein, try with some jam with has zero fat (marmalade, blueberry etc)
Eat plenty of grapes everyday, i just love grapes, they are such a lovely food.
Of all i observed some Food items which I love the most or would be difficult to live without
Rice
Grapes
Onions
Lemon
honey


Avoid fries at any cost and anything oily food or food with ghee/butter in the outside restaurants, if you go out with friends then its obvious you have to take something or the other, in that case you can order an item which is shared by all so you don't have the responsibility to finish it all alone.
So many tips and tricks, some of them I got it from the book on diet I am currently reading.
I also have daily lemon/honey/hot water mix early morning as soon as I get up, this habit I learnt from my mother. 
This unique combination removes cholesterol from blood and keeps our heart healthy, it also acts as a catalyst for bowel movement (serves the purpose of bed coffee/tea)
Always cook your food with Olive oil.


Hey some more info today about sea food.
I cooked and ate prawns all by myself on thu/fri and enjoyed it to the full, they cost more, some 9 AUD for 300 Grams. they are so delicious, not so tasty as our lake prawns/shrimps in your place (andhra).
today I bought Salmon fish, they are unbeatable in taste.
Did some research and foudn they are full of omega 3 fatty acids which help in preventing alzhiemer's disease, fights depression, helps in maintaining good vision, prevents heart attacks and what not.
Also after some research found that Tuna is a great source of protein with almost zero fat and is best recommended for body builders (like me).
So i'll start eating Tuna cans from tomorrow.
can you believe it, if I compare my waist size to the same date as of last year, I lost more than 3 cms.
It used to be 34 and now somewhere 31 and a bit less I guess. 
All my jeans/trousers are of 32 cm and they all seem to be loose now.
All this change started 6 months back when I joined melbourne city baths Gym/pool.
my weight now is less than 70, its actually 69. There is no visible fat in my body except abdomen which will in due course will be removed.
My target is to have 30 cm waistline; so I should be throwing away all my jeans/trousers which I am currently using after 2-3 months and start buying new ones of 30 cm size.
Hope this happens soon!

My Civil Society - A new structure

This is continuing to my earlier post 
http://chmonalisa.blogspot.com/2011/02/to-do-list-for-my-nation.html


-- Education team; Sponsor Research across the country, setup research scholarships and grantships for the bright students. Also help poor people in primary school/secondary school and college level education.


-- Form an NGO team exclusively dedicated to make government organizations work using the power of "RTI", right to information; the idea is to arrange people whose only job is to study how the local authorities are working and submit RTI applications on a daily basis. 
Gather the data, analyze it and distribute it to Universities ofcourse with the authorities' permissions. 
If there are any negligencies or wrong information then file it in local courts.


-- Arrange a Special Task Force for each city/town; this is like a "may I help you" team whose only thing to do is help the citizens to reach the respective authorities, guide them and assist them in every step, all free of cost. So there would be a dedicated 24/7 team whose job is help people. This team will have permission from the local corporator/mayor/collector so they do things all according to law.


-- Civil Innovation team, this team works with the people to find innovative ways and new methods in civil service, this team works closely with the authorities as well.


-- Afforestation team; this team's job is plant trees wherever necessary and educate people on the need to afforest


-- Pension Team; this team will make sure every eligible person in the society gets pension on time and correctly


-- Public Transport team; studies the existing public transport system, analyzes the profit/loss, expenses, submit reports weekly/monthly to the authorities, suggest ways to improve things.


-- Feed back team; these people collect feedback on various issues and items, all the other teams come to the Feedback team for anykind of public feedback they need


-- Grievance team; collect public grievances in that locality and forward them to the authorities, acts like a middle tier system between government bodies and citizens


-- security team; does regular patrolling helping police and citizens in maintaing security in the society


-- Finance team; This is the core body of the entire structure; Every team's expenses are bore by this team.


-- Governing body team; this team is to receive complaints against other team's in the structure.


'll add some more later but for now there are too many thoughts and great ideas, god knows how am I getting so many brilliant ideas :)

Aashirwad Movie - by Hrishikesh Mukherjee released in 1968 - A Review

After a long time that I cried, felt so happy and light inside my heart; that's what tears make you feel.


This amazing movie, "Aashirwaad" was written,produced, screenplay and directed by the great Hrishikesh Mukherjee, dailogues by Gulzar saab.
Amazing music by Vasant Desai with most of the songs as folk and tragic.
Also anil ghosh was accredit as associate writer and screenplay for this movie.


One of the very few movies which made me cry so I definitely would remember this in my life.
The agony of a father, the immense love for his child, his loads of goodness despite being a Thakur is what this movie is all about.
Ashok Kumar as "Jogi Thakur", people in the village call him so as he being a Zamindar roams among the poor people and help them; His wife is an arrogant zamindarin thought good at heart; they have a little child called "Nina" and our Thakur fondly calls her "Bittu".
One day Thakur's wife gets the village on fire using Munshiji who has an eye on Baiju's young daughter. Baiju is an old fellow who fails to pay the debt which leads to this extreme step by Thakur's wife. 
Thakur is fed up with his wife and leaves the village to city where he accompanies another poor fellow who earns money by showing pictures to children. Thakur helps him with this and in the process meets a little child whose name is also Nina; This little Nina dies due to high fever which makes Thakur realizes how badly he misses his child.
so Thakur returns to his village and finds that Baiju's daughter is kidnapped by Munshi and has been with him in a godown since the village was lit up with fire. In an angry state he enters the godown and kills the Munshi.
Though thakur's wife and brother-in law tries to save him in the court, the thakur accepts his crime and is sentenced to 14 yrs imprisonment. Thakur spends his life in Jail by writing poems about his little kid, he doesn't want his Nina to know about him and Nina's mamaji (thakur's brother-in law) tells her that her father became sanyasi and left everybody.
After 14 years, Nina's love who is a doctor gets the job in the same Jail where Thakur stays.
The doctor likes Thakur as well as Nina who comes to see her love; Thakur doesn't reveal his real name though he gets to know that she is his Nina.
The final day comes when thakur gets early release and on the same day Nina's marriage with the doctor is fixed; Thakur though sick gets on to reach the venue to see his daughter's marriage; the Thonga valla drops Thakur from the station and sings one of the Jogi Thakur's old songs; Baiju still lives in the village, Chandanpur as a begger and he recognizes the Jogi Thakur;
they all go to Nina's wedding as the Zamindars organizes a feast for all the beggars.
Once the thakur gives his "Aashirwaad" to his daughter he comes out and fells down.
Baiju calls everybody and tells them that he is the Jogi Thakur. People throng the place and Nina and doctor gets to know about him and they come there as well; Nina cries at seeing his father and finally Jogi Thakur dies blessing the newly weds.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The movie amazingly depicts the agony, pain of a father towards his daughter. I just couldn't control my tears for the last half an hour of the movie, it was just brilliant.
Gulzar's dailogues and lyrics are so dramatic and moving.
This is a must watch for every indian; This movie actually gave me so many ideas about what to do in my future and for the society; How to love others and forgive people and start loving them.


I only wish I watch some more movies like this before my last breath :)

Books' Counter

Here goes another Counter on the Air.
The books I read and a short review about each will be updated here. The idea actually came from Mr. Paul S Randall who is a SQL Server Specialist and runs his own company.
He updates the number of pages read/day every year/month which is good.


Hence here I am started my own way of reviewing and counting what I am reading.
I've read so many books since my self realization in my Engg. days


Some of them which I remember are here:
Oscar wilde - short stories
Kushwant singh - Burial @ Sea
Kushwant Singh - A Train to Pakistan
Kushwant Singh - Delhi
Charlotte Bronte - Jane Eyre
Jane Austen - Emma
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice
Anthony Trollope - the Warden
Oscar wilde - the picture of dorian gray
Chetan bhagat - 3 mistakes of my life
Chetan bhagat - one night @ call center
Chetan bhagat - 2 states
Kiran Desai - The Inheritance of Loss
Mimi Spencer - 101 things to do before you diet
Wilkie Collins - Basil


There are lot and 'll update as and when I recollect.


Currently I am reading "William Makepiece Thackerey"'s Vanity Fair.
Also I am reading this "101 things to do before you diet" by Mimi Spencer;
Completed reading the above book on diet, its so damn good and cheeky; I've skipped a lot of pages which pertains to women's clothing and style.
This book is so good, i just love it; full of wit and humour, i didn't understand some of the phrases as they seem to be part of modern british lingo.


Basil is unlike a regular classic, this has suspense and this seems like a thriller. I finished reading this quite soon, very few times I have completed books like this.
I enjoyed the suspense, there are some pages where Collins describes the feelings and the nature of the events etc which I felt was like filling up pages. Other than that it was an amazing piece of work.
I'll have to complete Vanity Fair before I jump onto another one.


Completed this book (i think on 11th july '11), "Daphnis and Chloe by Longus " - translated by Ronald McCail.
This is a Greek classi written somewhere in 3rd BC.
This book is supposedly written to teach young lovers what love is. This is mostly similar to the theme of "blue lagoon" movie.
Now started reading Kiran Desai's first book, "hullabaloo in the guava orchard".

Greatest myth of my life revealed

Yes its true and its official now.
Alcohol has the highest calorie content next to Fat.
Oh my god, this is the greatest mistake I've been doing all in my life for the past 7 years.
Can I believe this as true?
Yes ofcourse, I just realized how great pig I am.
I read now in lot of articles now that have 7 calories per gram which is way too high.
approx each peg/shot amounts to 55 cals.


I've been dwelling on why I couldn't reduce my stomach size despite following staunch fitness routine and a good diet high in fibre and proteins.
I used to do rigorous swimming, like 1 to 1.5 Km 5 years ago, after that I used to jog for 2 Kms, used to go to Gym and burn 300 cals. Then started cycling for 10-12 Kms atleast 3-4 days each week.
Despite doing all these high octane exercise I couldn't reduce my Belly fat, the only reason I just discovered is because of Alcohol consumption.


I even had a discussion a couple of hours ago with my Gym instructor; I just vent out my frustration about my abdomen fat, she gave lot of tips and advised me to consult dietician on the ground floor.


I should remember this day for sometime to come, I found the true fact that Alcohol is a high calorie food.


To all those who drink alcohol, please bear in mind that it increases weight as it has calories, beer/wine have carbs as well.
So the best thing is if you drink, drink less and don't eat snacks while drinking.


Jaago grahak Jaago