Time for a review of the year gone by!
January was cold. Yet it didnt snow for most part of it – Mom was here on a visit and left back on January 9th. Weighed myself that day and found I was 226 pounds, and a 37 nearing rotund waist. Dont know what happened, but at that instance I got tired of carrying my weight around and do something about it. Went to Gym, and walked for 10 mins at 2.5 miles/hour speed which left me panting and breathless. Turned 26 in January, and gave myself a party by driving to Baltimore in wild snow.
February was another cold month and it snowed a lot. It was not particularly a great month – had a lot of tensions and worries regarding career and future. Much of February passed in frustration and worries, and general hopelessness. Got the complete DVD set of my favorite series “The Wonder Years“. My walking had improved to 20 minutes at 3 miles/hr in the Gym; Had lost 4 pounds to be at 222 pounds; I could walk 4 days a week. We went Ski-ing for the first time here – With 3 layers of clothes, the initiation class got me so dehydrated that I couldnt ski; made me wonder at the irony of it all.
March was a life changing month; Watched “The Wonder Years” of 115 episodes in 6 days flat and for reasons best known to myself, it was a life changing experience – or put it in another way – an inspiring experience. Tensions about career abated, and life seemed to improve again. Spring was in the air! Found a new interest – Hiking -went for hiking trips all around D.C; I could do 45 minutes of continuous walk almost daily in my hiking shoes. Had lost another 4 pounds to be 218 pounds – had also lost an inch of my waist to be 35 inches. Got a jolt in March when I was forced to move into a new appartment for unpleasant reasons, none because of my fault. Spent a better part of March hunting appartments again.
April was fun – Spring was blossoming! The weather was just perfect – went to the famous Cherry Blossoms festival in DC for the first time and recounted my ponderings on my blog. I also put my take on this whole crap about ABCD, FOB, EFGH and assorted acronyms. I loved walking on jogging trails just behind my Appartments as weather was just perfect – used to see a lot people run and always wondered if I could jog too. In the third week of April, I did. I jogged for 10 minutes, for the first time in my life, and walked for 30 minutes. Found a new appartment too, and luckily in the same building I stayed! At this time, I was down to 213 pounds, and 35 inches seemed a little loose now. In the last week, injured my right leg badly – my heel, ankle and shin pained badly. My mistake – using a Hiking shoe to Jog, which I must say now is a very very bad idea.
May brought a painful move; luckily with great friends around I moved into my new appartment in a jiffy – why not? I made the shortest move in my life! I moved to an appartment one floor down in the same building :). My leg was feeling better after a week, hence I resumed my jogging again, still in my Hiking shoes. One saturday, I jogged for a mile (I was able to do it now!), and then came back and played tennis for the first time in my life; for 2 hours. Next day, I had knee injuries in both my legs. And tennis elbow injury in my right hand. Even with injuries et al, by end of May, I had lost 2 inches of my waist, and 22 pounds – my weight stood at 204 pounds and waist of 34. I made the first gleeful announcement about it here
June opened up swimming pools in my appartment complex; Being water phobic, I decided it was time to learn swimming this time in life, to remove my fear of water. Yet, I was not getting motivated enough. It was a rather sedate month, but the weather was awesome. I was finally really motivated about my health regime – in June, I had given up walking altogether and started jogging. I could jog at 4.3 to 4.6 miles / hour speed, and jog for 45 minutes through a distance of 3.5 miles. By the end of June, I hit a weight loss plateau and my weight staggered. To my disappointment, I had lost only 4 pounds in June and my waist remained at 34 inches. However my tennis elbow injury had started to disappear.
July was a good month – went to Houston to attend my close friend’s engagement. It was an awesome trip, and being able to catch up with friends was indeed special. It also marked my 1 year with my present company. I finally joined swimming lessons, probably the second best thing after running I did this year. I was lucky enough to meet a great swim instructor who taught me to embrace water, not fight it. I was his last student, and made a post about it on my blog. By mid July made another announcement on my blog – I was down by 2.5 inches of my waist and 30 pounds off since january. I was at 33.5 inches waist and 196 pounds. Swimming proved to be a really good exercise.
August pretty much stayed the same as July; I finished my swim classes and now swam 4 laps daily at our complex swimming pool. Enjoyed the summer thoroughly – went on more hikes, and with the new running shoes, life was easier on my legs. Mid August, I made yet another announcement – I was down by 40 pounds, and 3 inches. My weight now stood 186 pounds, and 33 inche waist. I now could run at 4.6 miles/hour continously for 45 minutes; started a bit of weight training too. Rakshabandhan made me feel as if I had begun to lose touch; most of my sisters didnt bother to send me a rakhi and those who did, their’s never reached me 🙁 – for the first time I felt like Gogol Ganguly.
September followed the same pattern as August. One of my closest friends moved back to India for good; I was pretty moist when I realized that time just flies without even we realizing it. Ganesh Chaturthi came and went, and it didnt matter to anyone in particular. I made the biggest announcement of my life again on my blog on September 29 – yes, I was down by 48 pounds and 4 inches of my waist. I was now 32 inch waist, with weight of 178 pounds. I could also now swim 20 laps, not continuosly though.
October was month of purchases! Got myself a huge honking 50 inch HDTV and a 7.1 surround sound system; needless to say I spent a fortune, but it was well worth it. I also shocked my parents by sending them a trimmed and slimmed version of myself – they were totally unprepared for it and instead of glee, i ended up causing considerable tension to my parents who believed I was depressed and starving and not really was on a running drive! I scheduled an impromptu trip to Kuwait and decided to spend my Diwali there. It started getting chilly, hence Swimming stopped completely, though my running continued.
November was special! I spent one of my best Diwali’s ever in Kuwait. It was cherished. Coming back, I and my friends joined hands to give our friend in Houston a proper pre-marriage party in Las Vegas! Needless to say it rocked! Gambled a lot, won a lot and lost all of it there. My trips to Kuwait and Las Vegas increased my weight by another 6 pounds 🙁 . Cold had set in finally now, and it was back to dark evenings and cold mornings. It snowed rather early this year in November.
December brought about more snow, suprisingly much earlier than expected. Being holiday season, spent better part of it eating chocolates and running to put those chocolates away. It was unfortunate that I couldnt visit India towards end of it, as much as I had hoped and loved to. I could now run at 5.6 miles/ hour speed for 40 minutes, and it has never felt better. Went to a great party on December 31st, where, probably for the first time, I danced. I wanted to put up another announcement, but pushed it off.
Today – January 1, 2006. Looking back at past year – Yes, it was a great year for me. A year of quite some changes and all good at that. If I had to live one year of my post 20s, pre 30s life, year 26 would be it. Without a doubt. And the announcement? As of January 1st, 2006, I am 50 pounds and 4 inches down from January 2005. I am now 176 pounds, and 32 inches. The single biggest achievement of my life, this past year.