Answering most FAQs on Our Weight Loss Regime! (Frequently asked questions)
🍏🥑🥒🥝🥗🍃🌱🍵Green Smoothie Recipe
a. 1/2 apple
b. 1/2 cucumber
c. 4 leaves spinach
d. 4 leaves lettuce
e. A handful mint leaves
f. Fresh Aloe vera gel (if available)
g. 1/2 an avocado if available
h. Chilled or room temperature water
Or You may add coconut milk or almond milk or yogurt!
1. 👩🏽 😐 😊 "I am new pls help me lose weight." Or "I weigh @#*%+@ much, help me lose @#£&+* much or 10 kgs or 20 kgs etc"
Pls follow the challenge, or free meal plans available on my blog, honified, if you want to lose fats/weight. That's just what this challenge is all about. That's just what this group is all about. Pls read pinned post, the link to my blog is available in pinned post and the comments that are links to older important posts such as meal plans, workouts, admins' posts etc.
All of my articles and free meal plans are available on my blog. You also have the option to request a customized meal plan available on charges if you need extra help because of a health issue or to counter weight loss plateau.
Continue following the group.
Read through links shared, they are tips and information on fatloss!
2. 👱🏽♀️👧🏾😦 "How much weight will I lose with this challenge/meal plan/workout?"
The fatloss/weight loss varies from person to person! There are a lot of factors contributing to burning calories and losing fat. It depends on your metabolism and level of activity during the day + hours and quality and timing of sleep + level of spices/red chilli powder in your food etc. Also it depends on what your lifestyle was like prior to the challenge. If you are new to this regime, you will lose more. Persons who are already following the healthy eating and workout regime will lose less. Why? Because their bodies are used to this and there is no shock element. Plus they have been gradually losing weight/fat for the past few years, their fat reserves have depleted/ become less over that time.
So with the same amount of food and workout, every person will have different results. The results may already be coming for some of you.
I would guess that in four weeks, the total weight loss can be from 2-8 kgs generally, but it can be more for some like upto 10 kgs.
3. 🗣😡 😤 "This is a useless group. Everyone keeps sharing their successful weight loss story, but no one tells how." + "How did you lose so much?"
This group promotes clean and healthy eating with regular workouts. Which is the healthy way to lose fats/weight.
The ladies who share their success do mention they followed clean and healthy eating and did workout. Since that is what we and the members do, there are no other options. I do not even understand why anyone would ask what did you do?
If you follow the instructions and information shared by admins, generally and the challenge these days, you will soon be posting your success story too.
In case you were wondering, no we or the members did not crash diet, fad diet, or use medicines.
We strictly tell you not to compromise your health by doing any of these
4. 👰🏽💍😭 "My @#%*/ cousin, brother/sister or I am getting engaged/married in @#%* days/weeks/months. Tell me something that will help me lose 10-20 or @#*%+ kgs weight fast." Or "How much weight will I lose in next ten days?"
Ladies what is the hurry? Did you gain this much weight in ten days? Or a month? Do not opt for a haggard look, sagging aging skin/face, bad mood, starvation, deprivation, over workout leading to fatigue or injury, or fad diets or medicines. Your health and wellness, your skin and freshness are important too.
Eat clean and healthy with regular workout. It will not make you slim overnight but yes it will over time and you will look good in whatever you wear. Learn to relax and get over your obsession to lose weight fast.
And get over with this attitude;
"I usually don't do anything for my weight loss, but when I do, I expect an overnight transformation!"
5. 👯🏃🏽♀️🏋🏽♀️🚴🏽♀️😕 "What is a good time to exercise?" Or "How much longer after a meal can I workout?" Or "Workout should be done on empty stomach or after meal?" Or
"What should I eat after workout?"
Never on empty stomach because it is not as effective as your metabolism is slow.
One hour or more after any meal is fine time for your workout.
Ideally you should have a Protein rich snack or Meal right after your workout to help your muscles recover from the wear and tear and also to repair and rebuild.
Your workout should be post breakfast (or any meal), like one hour after breakfast ( meal) and you should eat some protein rich meal post workout to help your muscles recover.
Repeating this for new members, workout is more effective one hour after any meal, because your metabolism is faster. Your body will be burning fat, once the sugars in blood deplete. As opposed to fasting, when your body tends to use hard earned muscle instead of fat to produce energy because the body thinks fat is important, in case of a possible famine, it tries to save fats. Will this serve your purpose of workout?
Be sensible to gain (actually lose) the most out of your workouts and eating clean and healthy meals.
6. 💧🙋 "May I drink water before/during/after my workout?"
Yes keep yourself hydrated before, during and after your workout. Keep water with you, sip or gulp water at all times not only at workout times but also during the day and before meals too but not during or right after a meal.
7. 🍞🌯🌮🍚😣 "I will be constipated if I don't eat roti!" Or "What is a good time to eat carbs from grains?" Or "I cannot quit eating roti or rice!" Or "what is the difference between bran bread/brown bread/whole-wheat bread and whole wheat roti?" Or "What is the difference between bran bread and whole wheat bread?" Or "How many times a week I can eat brown rice?"
First of all grains are not the only source of fibre. Vegetables, fruits, lentil, beans and legumes, plus added fibre from basil seeds (tukhm malanga,) ispaghol/psyllium husk, chia seeds etc add a bulk of fibre to our daily healthy meal plan. Constipation should not be an issue by leaving out or limiting your portion of grains/cereals.
Yes you can have all nutrients in your food even if you cut out grains/cereals completely. Complex carbs come from starchy vegetables, lentils, beans etc too.
Having said that, our Meal Plans at OWR only limit the portions of carbs from grain source and do not cut out completely.
Chia seeds, basil seeds/tukhm malanga, ispaghol/psyllium husk and sabot ispaghol, flax seeds, they all fluff up when soaked in water and if eaten add a bulk of fibre to our food. These are also sources of healthy fats.
Fibre is important due to more than one reasons, it gives you satiety, feeling of fullness from your meal, it helps balance your hormones, and helps with bowel movement, no constipation for someone who eats a lot of fibre.
Whole-wheat, brown or bran bread are basically the same, made from chakki ka ata, and not white flour or Maida, bran bread should ideally be having added bran/choker.
It's OK to have brown rice once or twice a week in limited portion. 1/2 to 1 cup cooked rice, (5-10 bites) as a side in one meal.
8. 🌾🍞🥖🌮How to make multigrain flour at home?
Add equal parts (one cup each) all or some of the following flours:
- Whole wheat/desi gandam/gehoon flour
- Barley/jau flour
- Millet/bajra flour
- Chick pea flour/ besan
- Rice/chawal flour
- Oats flour
- ground Flax seeds/ Alsi ke beej peesay huway
9. 👶"I am pregnant, may I follow this diet too?" Or "I am a nursing mother, what can I do to lose weight?" Or "Can I follow this diet while nursing my @#+* months/years old?" Or "I just/@#£_* months/year back had a C section. Can I do exercise?"
First and foremost, consult your doctor! For diet as well as workout!
Yes you can follow any meal plan shared on the group, because meal plans made by admins incorporate all food groups, they are nutritionally balanced, and only healthy food is advised, which is good for you and your family. The only things that we tell you not to eat are empty calories or junk food, foods with chemicals and preservatives, like processed foods, refined sugars, cookies, cakes, donuts, sodas, deep fried food, French fries etc. You will not become weak and haggard by omitting these from your diet!
If you are pregnant or nursing, you can increase your portions. Add more complex carbs, fruits and dairy to your meals.
Yes you can workout while pregnant, while nursing and post partum. You are best judge of your comfort level, do not push yourself to do something strenuous or that involves jerks like skipping, jumping jacks etc. If your scar is healed and you feel fine doing squats, lunges, planks, leg raises then why not. Also yoga and pilates are not intense workouts though they increase your strength and stamina so try these.
9. 🌿☕How to make cinnamon tea?
Add Quarter teaspoon of ground cinnamon or a small stick to boiling water, reduce flame to low heat, with lid on, let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes. You can add some other ingredients as per choice, any one or more of these, few slivers ginger, 1 ground cardamom, few mint leaves, few green tea leaves, few pieces star anise/ badyan akhtai, a pinch cumin seeds/zeera, lemon grass.
Cinnamon is amazing as it helps with allergies, fight against flu, and helps manage blood sugar and insulin levels. It helps with weight loss.
10. 🍗🍖🍔🍕🍟Suggest some healthy late night snacking! What should be dinner time?
I would suggest no late night snacking, because late snacking is not a healthy option by itself. Your dinner should be about two hours prior to your bed time. You should not be feeling hungry again till bedtime, if you still feel hungry review your dinner, because may be it is not balanced and fulfilling enough. Try to either shift your dinner time to a little later or make your bedtime a little earlier.
if you must then a handful of nuts of your choice is both filling and not too heavy to disturb your sleep.
11. 🍪🍚🌾🥖🍞🥐Do white grains have more carbs than brown? What is the difference between processed or white grains and whole or brown or with bran grains?
Actually not more or less carbs, the calories or carbs in one equal serving of both white and brown will most likely be equal, then what is the difference , it is complex or simple, carbs. Which means simple is digested quickly the way it cooks quickly and gives you a burst of sugar, that you cannot burn or consume, which gets stored as fat. While complex breaks down slowly and you get slow released energy for longer period of time that you burn as it comes. That's why it keeps you fuller for longer.I hope it makes sense.
12. 🍰🍫🍦🍩🍪🎂🍟🍕🌭🍧Why do we have cravings?
Cravings can be because of two reasons, either stressful situation you are dealing with or your last meal was not filling enough. So either your body is asking for comfort food, or your meal was not meeting your requirement of either taste or nutrition, or both.
What you can do is, if stress in life is making you crave then deal with your stress with a change in your attitude, not comfort food. Learn to cope with it, learn to deep breathe to help you through situations. Try turning to prayers and/or meditation to bring peace to your mind. We all have our share of stressful situations. We have negative people and situations around us. Focus on the positive aspects, on the people you love, on the things you cannot live without and also on small sources of happiness around you.
If your food is too bland or you didn't get filling feeling, then increase the portion of salads and vegetables and also try different condiments and flavours to make your food more interesting and tantalising to your pallette. Add interesting dressings to your salads. Vinaigrette dressing is healthy and weight loss friendly.
Cravings can be a sign of wrong approach to workout, too much workout or cardio can cause increased cravings. Please workout on alternate days, no more than 3-4 days, each workout no more than 30-40 minutes duration. Go for short but intense workout.
Your cravings can be for sweet or savoury. You can make your food taste according to your craving for savoury. For the sweet you can sometimes have a date and two almonds.
Having said that a couple of small bites of dark chocolate will do more good than bad, once or twice a week. Indulge!
13. 💪🏼🏃🏽♀️🏊🏽♀️ Help me lose belly fat! Help me or give me tips to lose stubborn fat on my belly, lower belly, hips, thighs, or muffin top.
The stubborn areas at times are too stubborn. Despite eating right and regular workout, while you may be losing fat elsewhere, but the most stubborn areas of fat refuse to budge. So what should we do?
a. Reduce stress. Stress will stop fat loss from stubborn areas. Learn to deal with stressful situations. Learn to manage stress.
b. Have your complete rest. Disturbed or less sleep contributes to weight gain or hinderance in weight loss from stubborn fat areas.
c. Get your hormones back in balance.
Hormonal imbalance is a big reason for difficulty in losing fat specially abdominal and lower abdominal.
14. 💪🏼🏃🏽♀️👟🏋🏽♀️🏆 How much workout should we do? I walk for two hours daily, is it enough?
Do we lose weight with walk?
High intensity short interval workout, such as tabatta or HIIT, High Intensity Interval Training, is the correct approach, 3-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes.
Workout is unfortunately very misunderstood. Some people are eating wrong and expect to lose weight with just workout. For some other, every time they eat unhealthy they turn to treadmills to burn it off.
That is wrong approach. Eating right is of primary importance. One cheat meal doesn't mean you have to punish your self and burn it off.
Brisk Walk and specially for longer periods like an hour or more does not help losing weight generally, because it increases intensity of cravings specially for sweet.
Remember workouts that go on for an hour or more cause muscle fatigue, may cause muscle injury and cravings specially for sweet. What is worse, is the production of a hormone called cortisol (stress hormone) that stops fat loss.
15. 🤔🏃🏽♀️👯🏋🏽♀️🏌️♀️🏊🏽♀️🚴🏽♀️🚣🏽♀️How many calories should we burn daily during workout?
Although treadmills, elliptical, cycles, rowing machines etc show calories burnt but that is always an estimate of how many calories you may have burnt while calories actually burnt are very difficult to gauge because
A person with faster metabolism will burn more,
A heavier person will burn more,
A muscular person will burn more,
A person on metabolism booster diet will burn more such as ketogenic diet,
There can be other factors such as hormones and how effectively are you using the machine, etc
Plus what the machine will never tell you is the number of calories you will continue burning through the day because workout made your metabolism faster.
So a good idea will be to not pay attention to the calories ticker and do intense workout for 30-40 minutes 3-4 days a week. Your ideal workout should be aiming at toning your muscles so your metabolism becomes faster and you naturally burn calories 24/7.
16. 🙋🏽👯🚶🏽♀️🏃🏽♀️💁🏽 Can I workout during my periods/ menstrual cycle?
If you have periods cramps or feel weakness then do not, if you don't then you can but do not do any pose such as hip bridges, where your legs and lower abdomen/ pelvis go higher than your waist or chest, anti gravity moves, because the flow of periods will go backwards out of Fallopian tubes into the abdominal cavity.
You may lighten the intensity of your workout, just walk or something with less cardio and jumping or hopping.
To deal with pms, try hot cocoa drink, or golden milk/turmeric milk/ haldi wala doodh.
17. 🥃👩🏽⚕️👌🏽✍🏽 What is ACV and how does it help in weight loss? What about side effects? How to have benefits without or with minimal side effects?
ACV or Apple Cider Vinegar
We all know that apple cider vinegar is extracted from fermented apples. Apple cider vinegar literally means ‘sour wine of apple’ in Latin as well as in French. This sour juice is full of essential vitamins and minerals like pectin, vitamins B1, B2, B6, and C, folic acid, biotin, pantothenic acid, niacin, sodium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and acetic acid.
You should use organic raw unfiltered ACV with mother, such as Braggs. Not American Garden one which is processed. Or make it at home, by only placing organic chunks of apple and filtered water in a glass container for about two months.
ACV helps keep blood sugar and in turn insulin levels low in blood, this helps in weight loss.
You should have it diluted like 1 teaspoon in 2-3 glasses of water to minimise any chance of side effects. This you can drink periodically between meals.
You can sip from a straw instead of drinking mouthfulls to save your teeth enamel.
Also don't have it prior or right after medicine because it may hinder absorption of certain medicines.
I hope it helps.
18. 🥛🧀 Milk or dairy is healthy or not? Does it cause weight gain? Low fat or full cream? If diagnosed with PCOS, should you have dairy?
Milk as you may already know has earned a very bad reputation on account of a hormone called oxytocin, injected to increase the yield, additives that are added to it to preserve it, and make it more flavourful etc. This milk causes inflammation in body and increase in bad estrogen or xenoestrogen, which may cause many female health issues including breast cancer, fibroids, hormonal imbalance, weight gain etc
If you are certain that you are getting organic, grass fed, hormone and preservatives free, additives free, only pasteurised or otherwise fresh milk that you can boil at home then you may drink it and enjoy the health benefits.
دودھ اس وجہ سے مضر صحت سمجھا جاتا ہے کہ آجکل ہارمون کے ٹیکے اور اضافی اجزاء دودھ میں شامل کی جاتی ہیں، جو اس کو خراب ہونے سے بچاتی اور ذائقہ بہتر بناتی ہیں لیکن ہماری صحت کیلئے نہائیت مضر ہیں۔ ان اجزاء کی وجہ سے جسم میں اضافی نسوانی ہارمون ایسٹروجن کی ساخت کا زینو اسٹروجن (یعنی ایسا ایسٹروجن جو اصل میں اسٹروجن نہیں بلکہ اس کی حئیت کا ایک نقصاندہ کیمیائ ہارمون ہے) جو کہ لا تعداد بیماریوں کی وجہ بنتا ہے، مثلاً پستان کا کینسر، فائبروئڈ یا بچہ دانی کی رسولیاں، ہارمون کی کمی بیشی، وزن بڑھنا وغیرہ
اگر آپکو یقین ہے کہ جو دودھ آپ استعمال کر رہی ہیں وہ قدرتی آرگینک ہارمون اور کیمیکل سے پاک ہےجو کہ پیسچرائزڈ ہو یا پھر تازہ ہو جو آپ گھر پہ خود ابال کر
استعمال کرسکتی ہیں۔
Skim milk and full cream is another debatable issue. Once again since butter and ghee are healthy fats then obviously no reason to avoid fats unless advised by doctors otherwise. Skim milk has additives so unless you are certain no additives then you may choose what you feel is better.
With PCOS, xenoestrogens is the reason dairy is not advised. Avoid it or ensure you are getting organic grassfed milk.
You may post more FAQs in comments, I will either add to this post or answer them in comments.
Admin Our Weight Loss Regime (Facebook group)
