Post GM diet

Yahoo! My GM Diet program was a success. I lost 5 lbs and feel great (The husband is glad too!). But it wasn’t easy at all for me. On Day 3 (fruits & vegetables), I was really tempted a few times to eat something spicy and heavy. Especially when all my colleagues were feasting on delicious Mexican food. But I dutifully checked my temptation.

Day 4(Milk+ Bananas) was good. It almost felt like normal food. Day 5(Meat+Tomatoes) was a bit difficult. But I had subway sandwich to save myself (It was said that Hamburger’s OK).

Day 6 was the worst. Though the program mentioned that one can have unlimited amount of meat along with vegetables, it was painful for me to consume them without any rice or roti. I haven’t eaten much on that day and on the morning of Day 7, I almost fainted with hunger and weakness.

Day 7 was supposed to be a feast day with brown rice, veggies and juice and of course I very much relished it.

At last it was over!!!!

However, I would like to confess that I tweaked the diet plan a bit and cheated once (Veggie sub on Day 7). Also I feel that I’ve taken much less than the program recommended. For ex, I couldn’t eat all of the 6 raw tomatoes prescribed for Day 5. But I never took any harmful foods (snacks, sweets etc). So, I’m not sure whether I’ve successfully detoxified my body. Anyway, weight loss is just what matters more to me right now.

But I don’t think, prudently enough, that this does the magic and I can live happily ever after. I’m sure that I’ll gain back those 5 pounds if I continued my previous eating habits. Hard to accept it, but the truth is that at the least I’ve to be watchful if I want to maintain my new profile. (I know, I’m being dramatic; Losing just 5 pounds wouldn’t alter the profile much. Excuse me!)

Well, I guess maintenance can be done fairly easily compared to the strenuous program I just underwent. It’s my experience that I can allow myself occasional treats if I just follow my diet rules, which I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.

My 2 cents on the GM Diet

• It certainly is not so easy as it sounds to be
• For Indians, who mostly eat the veggies and meat only along with rice/roti, it’s really difficult to be deprived of them, if only for 6 days. Of course it’s the tongue which complains, not the stomach.
• I don’t think one can carry out the normal level of activity while on this program, at least not I. I deliberately chose the week to be without many obligations and much stress. I knew I wouldn’t have the energy to carry out my regular work load and tensions. I took lots of rest and generally didn’t involve in much brainy work.

The ‘I’ Day

The Interview Day. An interview is not a really rare event for me since I usually take up contract jobs and need to indulge in job search once in a while. I heard about this opportunity just out of blue last week and interview for today wasn’t confirmed until end of the day Monday. What really wanted me to write about all this is my thought process and attitude as I went through this whole thing. Actually, it’s been a while since my last interview and I should really have felt a tiny bit nervous or some sort of anxiety, given the fact that how desirable this particular position is to me in the midst of other opportunities. On the contrary, I felt very confident and held onto a foolish (?) notion that I never fail a face-to-face interview. (The fact that I’ve come this far basically shows that my skill set matches the requirements almost perfectly.) It has been true till now. Touchwood.   

But I didn’t rely on my belief alone, but supplemented the trend/hope/conviction with proper preparation. I faced the interview with lot of confidence and eagerness. I usually am very modest about everything but clearly modesty doesn’t pay well during interviews. I was concerned a little bit that I might have been a bit over-confident, but I’m glad I projected enough confidence they are looking for to initiate a major effort as a part of the job.

As you can guess, the interview went well and they are really impressed. (I’m not guessing here. I specifically asked one of the interviewers what he thinks about me in relation to this position. He sounded too enthusiastic to mean otherwise.) But it all came down to this: they came across another person just this morning, whom they liked and now probably have to make the tough decision of choosing one. So, just keeping my fingers crossed. 

Whatever their decision might be, I’m glad that I didn’t let myself down. It was a good interview.

Before signing off, I wish to mention a sweet little moment with my son this morning: As I was leaving for work, I asked my son (who is a little less than 3 years old) to wish me “All the Best”. He immediately wanted to know what it is and demanded an explanation. I really was taken by surprise and pleased to observe how curious he is to know and learn new things and concepts. When I explained to him that mamma has an interview today and you need to say ‘All the best’ in order for me to do well in that, he nodded wisely and wished me. I wondered how much he really understood. By the time he heard his dad say the same thing to me when I was at the door, the kiddo seemed quite comfortable with the phrase, and was repeating it to show off his knowledge.  Sometimes I feel that the best thing in this world is to see one’s baby growing and learning new things before your eyes. I want to treasure all such moments for eternity.

My first class in US

I’ve registered myself for a certification program at the local University and last Thursday, I attended my first academic class in US. It was with much anticipation and a hint of hesitation that I entered the classroom. The first thing I noticed was the presence of sleek monitors in front of the occupied seats. I also spotted a few laptops here and there. As I was just wondering why other seats have no such arrangements, it dawned on me that the screens were merely propped down for the unoccupied ones. I took a seat beside a lady and gazed at the propped down monitor before my desk with a perplexed expression and I was convinced that bringing that thing face to face with me would involve complex manipulation of the stand that was holding it. As I looked around for help, I saw a person in action.  A smile appeared on my face as I realized that all I needed to do was just to hold and lift it upwards. J Meanwhile, I took in the keyboard and CPU under the desk. I was fascinated by the whole set up of the class. 

Next I observed the instructor in the front talking to a few students and preparing for the lecture – setting up his machine etc. I recognized him from the thumbnail pic on the program brochure and I was very impressed by his appearance and his cheerful demeanor. I feel it’s important to get a good feel about the instructor in order to gain most from him.

And then the class slowly filled up and the instructor started his lecture. I was more than a bit amused by the way he had to struggle with the microphone and hands-free transmitter as he couldn’t quite get to clip it on him to render quality output. I couldn’t help remembering my MBA days in India where I witnessed a similar scene countless times. At that time I thought that it’s because of a defective equipment and/or lack of sophistication in India. But to witness the same here in US made me realize that it’s a universal problem, which can be attributed to the poor design of the device, and has nothing to do with sophistication whatsoever. 

Now, coming to the actual lecture, I found the style very similar to the way my most favorite professor at business school back in India used to teach. (He had taught in Singapore and London before). The most striking thing about the session was of course, the degree of students’ involvement. It’s highly participative and I daresay that in this first class more time was spent on discussions and student inputs than on the instructor’s discourse. It was a very rejuvenating experience for me. 

I was immensely intimidated by the profile of the student body. There were people with vast experience and knowledge in the field, some with over 10 years of work experience. It seemed like I was the only one with zero exposure to the practicalities of the field. I must confess that I was a bit overwhelmed by the nature of the project work expected and the amount of reading that has to be done. 

All weekend I was brooding over this, searching for information resources, going through online articles, buying books, requesting holds on some items in the local libraries, working on the assignment and mostly trying to brace myself for the challenge ahead. 

I guess I feel better today than before the weekend.