Many of you have asked me how I do it. So, I’m trying to break it down and give you a snapshot of what an average week looks like for me in terms of food and exercise. Some weeks are better and others are worse…This is going to be a short post (well, shorter than my previous ones). I thought I’d give you a brief idea about my exercise and food schedule for a week just to show that it is neither extraordinary nor unachievable. I have been maintaining this for almost a year now and am fairly confident that I can do it for an extended period of time. This has worked well for me. There are some areas of food I still have to work on. For example my water intake is poor. I drink a lot of water while I’m exercising or running but forget about drinking any throughout the day. Please do let me know how I can increase my water intake if you have ideas. Also, I’m not doing too good on fruits and veggies. But overall, I eat everything but in moderation and try to stay away from carbs as much as possible. Hope this helps!!

Red Label tea

Day 1 (Tuesday)

Wake up: 6 am

7 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar with 2 Marie biscuits

8.30 to 9.30 am

4.1 mile run in 58 minutes. Total steps done 9,238.

11 am

7-8 chocolate covered almonds to satiate my sweet craving

12 noon

Lunch – 2 rotis with turnip subzi, fat free plain yogurt

 3.45 pm

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar with 2 marie biscuits

 6.45 pm

Dinner – chicken shammi kabab Panini sanwhich (look out for the recipe in future posts) and 1 gulab jamun

 Total steps done at the end of the day – 12,021

Day 2 (Wednesday)

Wake up: 6.30.

7 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

8 am

1 toast (9 grain bread) with butter

9.30 am to 10.30 am

Step Interval exercise (total steps done at the end of it – 6,284)

Lots of water intake during exercise

11.30 am

2 chakli was feeling toally famished

1.30 pm

Lunch – baby spinach, argula and grilled chicken salad

3.45 pm

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

7.00 pm

Dinner – Two Rotis with chicken (thighs) curry and 1 gulab jamun

Total steps done at the end of the day – 11,066

Cucumber Sandwich

Day 3 (Thursday) this is my rest day as I teach two dance classes

Wake up: 7.00am

7.20 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

8 am

1 toast (9 grain bread) with butter and 1 banana

10.30 am to 11.30

Teach dance (Steps done 2,489)

11.45

Unsalted almonds for snack

12.30 – 1.15

teach dance (total steps done 3,986)

1.30 pm

Lunch – cucumber sandwich with mint chutney and hot and sweet Maggie ketchup in nine grain bread

3.45 pm

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

7.00 pm

Dinner – Two Rotis with chicken (thighs) curry (left over from Wednesday)

Total steps done at the end of the day – 7,589

Body Jam

Day 4 (Friday)

Wake up: 6.45 am

7 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

8 am

1 banana

10.45 am

Protein shake

9.30 am to 10.30 am

Body Jam – dance based exercise (total steps done at the end of it – 7,213)

Lots of water intake during exercise

12 noon

Lunch – Soup and sandwich at Panera with a friend

3.45 pm

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

7.00 pm

Dinner – Two big pieces of tandoori chicken and 1 shami kabab (no carbs)

Total steps done at the end of the day – 10,523

Day 5 (Saturday)

Wake up: 8.00 am

8.20 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

Skipped breakfast completely (Not the greatest thing to do)

11 am

Brunch at Eggsperience  (a breakfast place in Naperville, IL). Both husband and son love going there.

Lots of shopping and walking around in the mall (steps: 5,390)

5.30 pm

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar and 3 Marie biscuits

9.00 pm

Party at a friend’s place so absolutely went overboard with food and drinks – 2 glasses of red wine, biryani, 1 naan (bread), palak-paneer (Cottage cheese and spinach), dal-makhni (Pulses in butter) and fruit cream.

We danced for an hour so added to my steps

Total steps done at the end of the day: 7,686

Day 6 (Sunday)

wake up: 8.30 am

9.20 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

9.15 am

1 slice of bread (toast) with butter and 1 banana

Ran 4.5 miles (Total steps: 9,500)

1 pm

Lunch – grilled chicken Panini with siracha (home-made)

8.30 pm

1 glass of white wine. Shrimp in pesto sauce with ½ cup of cooked white rice. 1 magnum mini-bar (white chocolate – I absolutely love these)

Total steps done at the end of the day: 12,356

Run run run

Day 7 (Monday)

Wake up: 6.00 am

6.40 am

½ glass of room temperature water

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

8.30 am

1 banana

9.15 – 10.15

Step interval aerobics (total steps: 6,982)

11 am

greek yogurt and fruits

12 noon

 2 rotis and home-made kali dal (black pulses)

3.45 pm

1 cup of tea (Red label) organic fat free milk and 1 tsp sugar

6.45 pm

Dinner – 1 plain deep parantha with Dannon non-fat yogurt and pickle

Total steps done at the end of the day – 12,322

Full Disclosure: I am not associated with any of the products or business discussed or published in a picture in the above post. They are solely for the purpose of either enhancing my blog or because I truly like/dislike the product or business.