Srishti is here

The eggplant I wrote about in January became a watermelon (what to expect when you are expecting app named the baby stages in produce from blueberries to avocado to pineapple and watermelon) and became a bundle to hold a week ago. Since I picked Kshitij's name Raj did the picking this time and it checked my box of a Sanskrit name that will hopefully not be shortened further. I also wanted a consonant blend at the beginning so yay! Srishti means all of creation, i.e the universe.
The labor itself was a great experience. The first time, I was on Pitocin the entire night and I opted for epidural to help me sleep. This time my plan had been to try natural methods first and then go to epidural if I couldn't take it. It is amazing what our minds and bodies can do. The nurses and my husband were great support. We were admitted at 1.40am and Srishti was born an hour and half later.
Post partum recovery has been great too. The blues were what I was afraid of..unfortunately for them, I do not have the time as yet to feel them. Hopefully the transition will be smoother this time.
Big brother has been wonderful! He has read  her books, held her hands, kissed her, and held her in his arms. It is a beautiful thing to behold. Of course, I am waiting to see how this will develop.
As to exercise! I refereed a throwball match the day before delivery and I think she wanted to be there sooner to see what the world has to offer :P I plan on beginning to walk in a day or two once her sleep routine is better. Right now, I am the pacifier on demand.
PS-Why women are called the weaker sex I do not know! We endure so much more physically and emotionally. Whoever said it needs a kick right up their butt!

2018-what am I doin'?

2017 was a mellow year. I did not change a lot in terms of my resolutions or habits. I played throwball, I quizzed, read a lot of books and watched a lot of TV! Not movies but TV.
2017 was also a year of new stuff in my life. We got our own home and moved to a new city. My role at work changed to something that I liked to do more. My son made a LOT of new friends and I was overwhelmed by the amount of literature we received on Back to School night. Now I feel almost nonchalant about his schooling and education.
So what am I going to do in 2018?
First off, I quit groups in whatsapp, that I was part of, with more than 4 people. And there were a lot!! Cousins, friends. classmates, colleagues all had varying reactions - from adding me back again and again and again to confusion to anger and finally to understanding. My voice was not heard in some, even if it did, did not make a difference and the amount of gifs, memes and forwards was too much for me to handle given my obsession of not seeing an unread message number. It was me - I couldn't control myself. I forgot my phone for a day at home and that turned out to be a super productive day at work and I wanted to continue doing that and quit Whatsapp groups. Similarly with Facebook - my timeline littered with videos. photos and memes that I "liked" without liking. I could feel a disconnect - a sort of cynicism and I don't like being cynical so I quit. My profile is active but I do not have it on the phone (which takes away 99% usage). I don't access it much on laptop (netflix takes priority) So far I am doing ok on Social Media Detox. Until I feel the urgent need to, I won't go back.
Second, I decided to donate my hair. All know my head is 75% grey and 25% black and 100% brown (because of the henna). I had a couple of inspirations to grow my hair and donate it. I did my research and I know I can donate unbleached but grey hair and they will take it. Instead of ruing the hair on the floor, I am nurturing the ones on my head so that someone somewhere may feel happy with it. I plan on donating at least 12 inches which means long long way to go.
Third, a not so subtle change - I now have an eggplant sized baby in my tummy! Due in April! It has not stopped me from doing anything I love (wink wink throwball). I played a game two weeks ago - I think my team won because the opponent team was scared of my bumpity bump! I thought of recording the pregnancy, but realized it was not what I do with the pregnancy but what comes after that is more interesting!! Which means 2018 is going to be a huge year and one that I look forward to! Not too many resolutions, nothing earth shattering at least.
Drop me a line-how you doing?

Coyote Hills Hike

It's been a long long time!
I have had three tournaments and one house-move in between. That is not why I haven't posted. I haven't posted because my exercise routine has been zilch! I walk an hour when my son has soccer practice three days a week and the weekend throwball, but other than that, no Jillian, no running, nothing!
My son is a part of Tiger Scouts in the area. One of the reasons why we signed up for this was the adventures that we would go on. We went on our very first campout in September. I had smores! Smores! For the first time in my life, a camping staple, stuff that I'd only read about. Was awesome. The campout itself I think we were underprepared for, but managed to get by fine.
Then come the monthly hikes. This time it was Coyote Hills. The hike was planned for 2pm. Slathered in orange peel scented sunscreen, off we went on a merry hike! The kids were running! Up the hill! What in the world!! My gluteus maximus, solar plexus, and other major muscle groups could not take it! It was awesome! I have done Mission Peak but it was too crowded for my liking. Here the goat poop, bird poop were ours and ours alone, as was the dust that blew from the steep sides, the tiny rocks that rumbled and the ones that skid beneath our feet making us feel we were floating for a second- headed toward the ground for sure! The rocks were ours, as was the sun dried grass. The smell of mountains that we couldn't smell over our gasping breaths. The hot sun that was merry and the cold water that went down our throats.
We did two hikes in all for about two hours. The first one took us over the mountains and the second one took us over marshes and wooden bridges. We did the Bayview Trail and Lizard Rock trails. The Bayview trail was splendid, with distant horizons and sparkling water and seagulls. The lizard rock trail took us through winding paths of tall grass and cattails.We got to see egrets and a black tailed deer.
The visitor center had nice displays of the settlement and villages before it was urbanized. It was definitely interesting for the kids to look at the tools and weapons used during that time. Also displayed was the trading items, which happened to rocks (which hold particular interest to my son). Given a chance he would de-rocked the entire center and the trail too. There was also a nectar garden with monarch butterflies and a couple of other kinds I forget the name of! Very serene too.
A good hike without too much crowd!

Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism

This!!!
This amazing kick butt of a workout!
This routine that had me dying for the seventh minute onward!
I can not stop gushing about it. Where the previous workout had me wanting cardio, this video delivered it with a kick right up my back. 50 minutes of non stop cardio. This workout sees 5 exercises in each section with 7 sections in all. Kickboxing, calisthenics, core training and more kickboxing feature in this routine that works because you are moving so much.
Some of the moves make you truly feel powerful. All the kickboxing moves that we go through, beginner or advanced, depends on an individual's comfort and flexibility. So where I did normal height drop and side kicks in the beginning, in the end I think my foot was higher than when I began. Some of the hard ones- burpees- my eternal bane; I won't rest until I conquer it. Standing mountain climbers- basically alternate upward punching with high knees thrown in. This was hard given that high knees are a problem for me. I started with a slower timing and then worked to the ones in the video. Still effective. Oh! Oh! There were the side knee crunches. I think there were points when my knees were doing it involuntarily because I had died by then. Scissor kicks that I ended up doing beginner level to decrease impact on knees.
In spite of the previous paragraph, I felt this workout was absolutely awesome. Let's face it! We get into it knowing what we are going into with Jillian. It is not going to be easy, but it is going to be exactly what we needed to get started. If there is a workout video that I'd consider buying this is probably it. Again I think this would be effective combined with the "No more trouble zones" DVD since that's all weight training and this is cardio. I can totally see getting shredded.
I had earlier planned on running more often but this video ended up being available sooner than I thought. I have given this my due diligence and found it good in the month and half that I worked with it. I still have a few more days to go before I return the video back. I still have not figured out what will be next, but am inclined towards running more. A Throwball team mate mentioned how she will be doing a marathon. Which has been a dream...but first I have to get back to running, hopefully I will.

Jillian Michaels' No more trouble zones

I wanted to take my time with this one. I truly wanted to give it my best shot; to see the results and then post about it. By now I've done quite a few of Jillian Michaels' programs. So I expected this to be as effective as the others. For me, unfortunately this did not quite cut it.
First and foremost this is not a 3 or 4 level circuit training that I have done with her other programs. In its entirety it is composed of 7 segments with 5 exercises, each done twice with the exception of the last segment. I did the entire DVD every day. It was pretty easy to keep up the energy. I did feel a lag a couple of times, when I did a less impacting version of the exercise for a couple of reps. Right at the beginning she mentions that all the exercises target trouble zones-arms, thighs, and abs to be broad. I used 5 pounds on each hand. It would have been more effective with 3 pounds but did not have those. The first five minutes- the warm up- incorporate a few cardio moves like jump rope, ice skaters and jumping jacks that are truly cardio moves. The rest is all weight training, with body weight and dumbbells.
She brings back mat work that uses body weight and that is awesome. Hollow man with scissor kicks, squirms, bicycle crunches, windshield wipers, pelvic thrusts, super man, rotating planks, planks with toe taps are all fantastic.
This DVD though is not easy on the knees, although we can modify to suit it to our comfort. She has two ladies working out along her but both of them do advanced moves and not a lot of beginners. Jillian does mention that we can ease up on the range of movement to suit our convenience. That's what I did. There is one in particular- the aptly named Surrender(!) that I ended up doing without weights because my knees wouldn't simple do it.
This DVD raises the heart rate and does burn calories, but to my surprise I found it less effective than the 30 day shred. Oh don't get me wrong! My biceps and triceps have risen to the surface, my arm is tighter and my thighs have a strong shape. I like to think the reason why I did not enjoy this one was because I was missing the high energy cardio moves. In spite of  the workout itself being good, I probably will not do this one again.
On the plus side, I am going to be running more regularly starting July. Hoping that will be a good change of pace.

Say my name..Wait! What?

I am named for my paternal grandmother- Meenakshi. Growing up I always had another classmate with the name. (I've also had someone in my class- school and college, the place I worked and when I did my Masters share my birthday too!!) In a bizarre turn of events I also had a room mate whose second name was the same as mine. I grew up not feeling particularly fond of it but for the sentiment attached to it. Although the shorter version of my name was used more frequently in our home and with relatives. I remember my mom used to be called "Meena amma". To this day a lot of people know her that way, just like how I am Kshitij's mom. And eventually I loved my name- hearing my full name with my fathers name is my ultimate joy. I thanked every person here in the USA that has said it completely right on the spot. They have issues with the last name- makes for a hilarious post later on.

Staying in the States, it has become easier for me to frequently tell people to call me by the shorter version. Even to those who can say it. My classmates, the billing agent on the phone, the DMV person and so on. I have been in so many situations when the sounds coming out of their mouths did not even match the letters in my name! So its been cut down to the first five letters because the English speakers could not capture the "ksh" sound convincingly enough and it was easier than repeating my name a lot of times (for native speakers only. A lot of my friends call me Meena too -familiarity breeds special privileges :P). Starbucks could find a shorter version- Mina! Worst of all, even after I say Meena, I have had questions like Neena? Nina?Ameena? Wait what?!

I now wonder if this is right. After all did we not make the effort to say Schwarzenegger? Not the best example I am afraid, but the only one off the top of my head. I am proud of my name and the heritage that it brings. And this when I was brought up in India for decades, having had time to say my name in the right way and truly let it become my identity.
The whole point of this post was to get to this- Kshitij is a beautiful name. It means "horizon". I fell in love with the name when we were looking for one. While it is a common enough name in India, it still poses challenges. All the letters in the word are meant to be pronounced. All of them. K its not silent, j is not y and t is th!I have taken to calling him K on social media posts and I feel if I am partly trying to alleviate other people's problems with his name. I should not be. How do I instill the love of his name? I do not want him growing up and wanting to change his name like Gogoloi from The Namesake. How?  

Ripped in 30- Week 4

We are stronger in the places we are already broken.
Jillian Michaels quotes Ernest Hemingway and proceeds to make me unbreakable all over my body because she how broken I am.
Looking back I have never seen a Week 4 workout in all the stuff that I have done from her line. 30 day shred and 6 week 6 pack both have only 3 levels so I knew Week 4 is going to be a killer.
Am I the only one that is gleeful the harder the exercises are? Nope, the thousands of focused, determined individuals that work out to her tough tune are sure to love it. You know by now that I had my Throwball tournament (Did I speak of anything else?) over the weekend. The longest rallies, the toughest point by point fight and thanks to Jillian I did not zone out until the very end where my exhaustion went beyond social niceties and I would have slept in the wide open field given a chance. :)
This Mother of all workouts is everything she promises it to be. I have slowly and surely seen a tightening of my bicep/tricep muscles, my thigh and shin muscles. My tummy still needs work. I have another post on that lined up when I can get to it.
Sweet Spots- I can't even talk about the warm up being easy. The slow leg swings were definitely not easy.
Tough nuts- The video if full of them. Squat press and rows, Burpees (my eternal bane in life- if it were a person I would be trolling them on Twitter), Chaturanga pushups (side note- a couple of yoga based exercise routines in this week) and last but not least plie hops with scissor kicks (don't ask me! I did the easy version and knocked my heels together)
In the end more than the exercises, I believe that I have grown more motivated and determined, It's not easy doing these exercises alone, let alone daily. I am supremely proud to have walked out on the patio, huffed and puffed myself red and proven to myself that all I need to be the best version of myself is work on it and be me!

PS- Started No more Trouble Zones ( my muscles are still twitching from the 50 minute exercise video. Post about it soon)