GOQii

Blog

Search Results for: weight

By 2 Comments

Overcome Worry – The Biggest Obstacle To Weight Loss & Your Health!

Overcome worryDo you eat food peacefully or with worry on your mind? Do you exercise happily or with worry on your mind? Do you also go to bed worried? Are you low on energy through the day and only the thought of outside food or entertainment can cheer you up? Are you unable to overcome worry?

Do you accept defeat when:

  • Your weight does not budge
  • You have a restless night sleep
  • You give in to food cravings
  • Your friends around you seem to lose weight faster or look better than you

A roadside advertisement for a certain brand of motor oil read “A clean engine always delivers power”…

So will a mind, free of negative thoughts, and very positive or in other words, a clean mind will deliver power! Therefore, flush out your negative thoughts, give yourself a clean mental engine, remembering that a clean mind, can always deliver power.

Why You Need To Overcome Worry

Overcome worry - obstacle to weight lossMost of our obstacles to weight loss and health are mental in character. You might say, “mine are not mental, they are real”, perhaps so, but your attitude towards them is clearly mental. “Worry” is the most subtle and destructive of all human diseases. Through “worry”, we have the dangerous ability to manifest diseases, stress, failure, defeat, anger, frustration and depression.

Do not accept defeat so easily. When your weight does not budge, be patient and instead of giving up, be more consistent with the things you should be doing to lose weight. It took you months or years to pile on fat, what makes you think it will go in few weeks without some sacrifice and effort?

Are you being honest with yourself when it comes to your food, exercise and eating outside?

Ask yourself, if the defeat that you have accepted is because you keep comparing yourself or your body to those around you? Your friends? Your social circle? If yes, then you will never be happy with the progress you make, you will get further depressed and you will fail. Have you even seen any two actors with the same body type? How can you ever have the same body as someone else then?

Comparing ourselves with others is the most drastic mistake one can make when it comes to our health or weight. Your benchmark for progress should be you and what you did yesterday, compared to what you will do today and tomorrow. Keep getting better, getting consistent and that will get you to your goal and peace of mind.

If you struggle to sleep, filter your thoughts and your mind. Easy to say, but hard to do. However, you must make the effort if you want to sleep well again. Worry stems of our insecurity, greed, fear, low confidence, guilt and other factors. Sometimes, you have to let go and if you don’t, your health will make that decision for you.

One of the best exercises to combat insecurities is to count your blessings

overcome worry - gratitudeTake a paper and write down all the things that you have and are grateful for. This should come from your heart. When you are done with this, your problems and insecurities will suddenly seem less. When you begin to eliminate worry, your energy levels automatically increase.

You see, we have over 60,000 thoughts running through our heads everyday. So it’s difficult to focus on what we have (which is usually enough) and instead fill our minds with chaos, which in turn stems worry and negativity. This causes stress and we all know by now that stress causes disease, a weak immune system, and is the biggest – I repeat ‘THE BIGGEST’ obstacle to fat loss and sleep.

Don’t see yoga or breathing as just an exercise. Use that one hour or 45 minutes to actually reflect, count your blessings, pray or analyze the goodness in your life. It is being proved today that the best way to cure a disease or a pain, is not to focus on it, instead focus on everything else that’s going well in your life.

To reach our goal, just have faith. All religions preach this and most people fail to follow or believe in that. Use a day or a weekend in a month for you to weed out negative thoughts, detox your mind, relax your body and count your blessings. Worry is a down payment on a problem that may NEVER occur and worry has never been known to solve a problem.

We hope this article helps you stress less and overcome worry! To know more about how you can beat stress, check out Healthy Reads or ask a GOQii Coach for further guidance by subscribing for Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for general awareness and educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider for personalised medical guidance or concerns related to your health.

By 16 Comments

Healthy Weight Gain Tips

Weight Gain

We’ve heard one too many instances of people having great success with weight loss! In fact, every time I visit the gym, I come across many such success stories. However, I can’t help this sinking feeling that the real strugglers are the ones who want to gain weight and build muscles.

Are you one of them? Ever wondered what you’re doing wrong despite indulging in healthy food, doing every possible workout, and trying to increase your appetite? Let’s see how you can gain healthy weight. But before that…

Let’s See What You’re Doing Wrong

1. Protein: Gym trainers and dieticians often suggest including more protein, some in the form of powders and others suggest natural sources such as eggs, Sattu, curd, cottage cheese, and the likes. However, calculating the right amount of protein required is often missed. One requires around 1.25g/kg ideal body weight proteins to build up muscles. For example, if you are 60kg, then the required amount of protein required by you on a daily basis to build muscles is 75g.

If you aren’t having enough or the required amount of protein, you will not see a difference. Hence, take some time out and consult professionals who can help you calculate. To gain healthy weight and build muscles, you also need to watch your carbs, antioxidants, and workouts.

2. Carbohydrates: I’ve noticed this as a trend. Most people place so much emphasis on proteins that they forget about carbs. Did you know that if approximately 60% of your diet isn’t from carbohydrate sources, your body will utilize protein to supply energy? Which means your body will not have enough proteins for tissue building.

3. Antioxidants: Fruits and salads are often flawed to be used as a weight-loss diet. Vegetables and fruits are the best source of antioxidants that help in tissue repairs, prevent injuries and inflammation. So, include vegetables and fruits with Selenium, Zinc, Vitamin C, and Vitamin E in your diet on a daily basis.

4. Workout: Your workout should focus more on strength training; however, ensure that you still do some cardio. Cardio will help your heart and lungs function better, which in turn will prevent you from falling ill during your program.

Foods That Help in Healthy Weight Gain and Muscle Building

  • Dates: They are loaded with iron, natural sugar and antioxidants. Eat 4-5 dates before your workout as dates provide you with instant energy and prevent muscle damage.
  • Sweet Nuts or Pulse balls (Chikkis): This is a sweet dish made up of pulses, nuts or seeds. It is nothing but roasted whole gram, peanuts or sesame seeds and jaggery. It’s a perfect combination of proteins and carbohydrates. Munching on them as mid-meal snacks work as an energy booster.
  • Nut Shakes: A big serving of dry fruits is difficult to consume at a time, but having them in a powdered form with milk will supply your body with good amounts of protein.
  • Fruit Smoothie: Eating fruits with curd will help add some antioxidants to your protein dose. This is probably the tastiest and most delicious way to consume fruits!
  • Combination of Cereals and Pulses: Just eating a pulse at a time will really not help as it doesn’t provide us with good quality proteins. But, when combined with a cereal, it will provide the benefits of both protein and carbohydrates. Options like Dal Paratha (Pulse Flat Breads), Puranpoli (Sweet Jaggery Flat Breads), Khichdi (mix of pulses, rice and vegetables cooked together), and Idli (steamed rice pan cakes) should be considered.
  • Adding Vegetables to Meat: Eating a separate serving of vegetable becomes difficult. The meal size may exceed if we have 1 serving of vegetable for vitamins & minerals and 1 serving of non-veg preparation for proteins. The best option in my opinion is to combine a non-vegetarian source with vegetables. For instance, Spinach (Palak) Chicken, Tomato Omelet, and Capsicum Stuffed with Mince.
  • Peanut Butter: People often go overboard with regular butter and get major changes in lipid profile but no change in weight. Ideally, one should apply peanut butter on their bread slices for the right fats and protein combination.

The key rule for healthy weight gain is to go for nutrient-dense meals. These healthy compact meals do not require an extreme appetite boost. Focus on healthy weight gain and be patient while you are in a weight gain program as it’s easy to cut on fats but takes time to add on muscles. Remember, it took 9 months to give you around 3kg of weight at birth. Stay at it and be patient.

We hope this article helps you! For more, check out Healthy Reads or you can speak to a GOQii Coach directly for expert guidance and motivation. Subscribe for Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

By 3 Comments

5 accompaniments to avoid to keep you healthy and to lose weight

I am a foodie! Being a Marwari, our meals are not simple staple food and contains lot of accompaniments along with basic roti, vegetables (sabzi), dal (lentils) and rice. In my quest for personal fitness and wanting to lose weight, I initially struggled for few months. I kept wondering why am I not losing weight in spite of eating at regular intervals, not cheating, not eating out, limiting high fat food intake, proper exercise routine, good 8 hours sleep and also resorting to meditation to remain stress free ?

These questions kept lingering in my thoughts and one fine day my health expert analyzed my routine, my diet and figured that there were few dishes that I should be avoiding or limiting my intake on if I need to lose or maintain my weight. That’s when I found the solution and achieved the best results on this journey!

I would like to share with you all about the most common 5 side dishes that people love, but, should be avoided or have it once in a while if you are on weight loss journey.

(1) Papad

Ahh!! That crunchy crispy papad.

Rice and dal seem like an incomplete meal without Papad on the side. Papads can be deep fried–extremely unhealthy – or roasted – which is equally unhealthy! They can be made from rice, flour, potatoes or chickpeas and are mixed with a variety of spices, salt, and oil. An uncontrolled serving of Papad can amp your calorie intake and exceed your daily budget. The increase in sodium can lead to water retention, bloating, and constant thirst and may even cause an increase in one’s blood pressure. Since, most of them consume more Papad in one sitting it may lead to acidity, and digestive problems too. When fried using same oil many times, the reused oil becomes transfat leading to cardiac issues and high cholesterol. When dry roasted, acrylamide is formed due to the presence of sodium benzoate. So, be mindful.

(2) Pickles

A spoonful of pickle can spice up any meal. In fact I have seen people can take their meal only with pickles without any veggies sometimes. It works well with curd rice; adds a punch to Potato Breads (Aloo Paranthas), and makes Theplas (Breads made of various grains) the best dish to snack on! Pickles stand out as flavorful, low-calorie vegetables and is high in vitamin K. However, pickles are loaded with calories because of the oil they are preserved in and their nutrition content is almost zero, as the vegetables and fruits are minced and dried, which takes away the nutritional value. Like Papads, they are high in sodium due to the use of excessive salt for preservatives which might lead to hypertension if taken in excess. So Again the same funda…Eat in limit!

 (3) Salad dressings  

Salad…salad and just salads!!! Most of the weight loss dieters say they are on some kind of only salads diet! But, still not losing weight?

If you think having salads at the start of your meal will help you eat one less parantha, then go ahead and have a bowl. But, this salad helps only if it is not loaded with high-calorie dressings. Adding dressing to a salad can make the calorie content soar. Dressings such as Thousand Islands and Mayonnaise are loaded with calories, most of them fat. Stick to olive oil, lemon or low-fat yogurt instead!

(4) Soups

Salads are mostly accompanied with bowl of soup. And, one is right in thinking that a soup can be a healthy meal. It can fill your stomach and make you go less on other carbohydrate foods. But, if the soup is loaded with toppings such as cheese, cream, and croutons, it’s far from being healthy. Stick to clear soup with pieces of veggies and meats; shun all cream-based soups. And never pick up the soup sticks or dinner rolls that accompany your soup in a restaurant. That’s another side you don’t need! Go for more of homemade soups without any corn flour and also avoid packaged one as they are also high in sodium being added as preservative. Rather you can add oats flour as thickening agent. You can also opt for healthy cold soups.

(5) Boondi Raita

This curd based mixture is a hot favourite with most of us. Curd is high in protein, calcium, probiotic and the perfectly aid in digestion. It’s good to have curd daily for a healthy gut. The problem begins when you add fried snack to it. Boondi is nothing but fried globules of chickpea flour. The addition makes it a high-caloric food. When fried in reused oil, it becomes transfat and thus may lead to heart issues. So you can opt for veggies in curd or spinach, cabbage, pomegranate, carrot, cucumber, onion and the likes instead of a friend snack in curd.

So be mindful with all these above foods and get fitter and healthier.

We hope this article helps you make informed choices for your weight loss journey. Have any tips on healthier accompaniments? Share them with us in the comments below. For more guidance on nutrition and weight management, explore Healthy Reads or consult a certified expert through GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

By 1 Comment

Low Calorie Open-Faced Sandwich for Weight Watchers

healthy recipeCraving for a quick snack? Want it to be healthy and aid your weight loss goals? This one is dedicated to weight watchers who wish to eat a low calorie, tasty sandwich! This is my personal healthy recipe for a good low-calorie open-faced sandwich.

Here’s what you will need:

  • Finely chopped purple cabbage (you can use normal cabbage) – 250 gm
  • Shredded carrots – ½ cup*
  • Finely chopped onions – ½ cup
  • Finely chopped fresh coriander leaves – ½ cup
  • Shredded paneer – ½ cup
  • Chilly ginger paste – 1 tbsp*
  • Salt to taste
  • Multigrain bread – 6 slices
  • Green chutney (coriander, garlic, chilly, ginger)
  • Butter or ghee for toasting

Method

  1. In a big bowl, add cabbage, carrot, onion, coriander and paneer and mix
  2. Add chilly ginger paste and salt to the mixture
  3. Take a multigrain bread and spread a tsp of green chutney, top the bread with 3 tbsp of vegetable mix. Repeat this process for all slices.
  4. Grease a pan with butter or ghee and put the slices with vegetable mixture on it to get toasted for 3 to 5 minutes on medium flame.
  5. Once the base of the bread is golden brown, remove it.
  6. Cut diagonally and serve immediately.
  7. Add some cheese on the prepared open bread sandwich if required

Highlights of the Low-Calore Open-Faced Sandwich

  • It has so much color on the plate and gives you the required antioxidants, flavonoids, vitamins and minerals in a quick way
  • Reducing the use of an extra bread makes it a light snack
  • It tastes absolutely delicious!!

*Abbreviations: 1 cup = 200 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml

Do try this low-calorie open-faced sandwich, upload your pics on social media or the GOQii Arena and tag us! For more healthy recipes, check out Healthy Reads or to get more advice on recipes, nutrition and diet tips for kids, subscribe to GOQii’s Personalised Health Coaching here.

#BeTheForce

From Terminal Illness To Complete Wellness! Ananda Mukherjee Health Story

As we observe World Cancer Day under the powerful theme ‘United by Unique’ (2025-2027)**, we are reminded that every individual’s journey with cancer is distinct, yet united by shared resilience, hope, and the collective fight against this disease. This theme places people at the centre of care and their stories at the heart of the […]

Devesh Srivastava Lowers His HbA1c from 6.7 to 5.8 With GOQii

Have you ever suffered from a cold or fever and thought to yourself that you can manage this? In fact, there’s a good chance that with some medication and rest, the symptoms of a cold or fever have subsided. But, when you deal with issues such as Diabetes and Hypertension, trying to manage the issue […]

Transforming Health and Life: Dhiren Matani’s Inspirational Journey to Wellness

In the face of persistent health challenges, Dhiren Matani, (43), an entrepreneur from Mumbai, embarked on a journey of resilience and transformation. Battling weight issues and a heart condition for some years, he refused to succumb to the daunting odds. Through sheer determination, he took control of his health at the right time by adopting […]