Dr Nikita Raghav
Monsoon can pretty much hamper your fitness journey because it is a task to reach your gym or yoga centre on time with the traffic jams and delays from workplace.
Here are some simple and easy habits that you can start doing from home in order to stay away from gaining those extra kilos due to immobility from the work from home era that we are in.
1. Keep your yoga mat outside where it can be seen so that it is visible and reminds us of starting doing some yoga asanas.
It’s a good habit to do a couple of surya namaskars and stretching once you wake up.
2. Get a treadmill or a cycle at home - Walking is the best and the simplest exercise which can be done by anyone, may it be the oldies or the pregnant women in your house. A simple 15 minute walk after meals everyday can change your life. Doctors recommend a one hour brisk walk, around 5kms, if you want to lose weight.
3. If you are living in a building, start opting for stairs instead of the lift. If climbing up is tedious, start by climbing down and slowly raise your bar to the top.
4. Yoga at bed time on bed - it’s a good habit to practice a little yoga on your soft bed, nothing vigorous, just keep your hands and feet apart focusing on breath or legs in 100 degrees. Adopt practices like child pose, butterfly or whatever type of stretching and breathing exercises that suit your boat.
5. Opt for work from home videos courses - There are so many good famed instructors on YouTube and Instagram who have designed special at home 30 days courses which can be accessed by anyone in any corner of the world, where minimal or no equipment are required to tone your body. A step by step, timed sessions with rest days and so much more is available, all you gotta do is find your inspiration and go for it.
6. Watch how much and frequently you eat - the best way to track your dietary habit is by maintaining a food journal. Log in your consumption habits. In this way, you can understand yourself better. You can show the records to a dietician if you workout. The book Ikigai has an interesting concept. The most common saying in Japan is "Hara hachi bu," which is repeated before or after eating and means something like ‘fill your belly to 80 percent.’ Eat only when you are actually hungry.
7. Do not fall everyday in the idea of ‘chai and pakode’ because the weather is awesome or hot chocolate on these gloomy evenings because it’s soothing and gives warmth. It really has too much sugar which can seriously disrupt your hormonal levels. Try to find alternatives. A good cup of camomile tea before bed time can do wonders for you and give you warmth.
Happy healthy monsoon.