Weight Loss Resolution in 2010

A very happy new year to all the readers of the blog. In this year, my goal is to weight loss, permanently change my eating habit and become more physically active. I have to change my sleeping habit too.

Right now, my weight is around 100 KG and my goal is to reach t 80 KG by the end of 2010.

Even if I can reach to 85 KG, I will be very hapy. Thus, in 12 months, I will try to lose 15-20 KG.

My second goal is to permanently change my eating habit. I will try to leave meat, sugar, coffee, soft drinks (coca cola, Pepsi etc), cake and pastry and of course fast food and outside food (restaurant foods).

Instead, I will try eat healthy food items. I will mainly eat rice, roti, vegetables, lentil, Bengal gram (Chickpea), fish etc. I will increase eating fruits and nuts.

I am going to start from zero amount of physical activity and I cannot even walk 10 minutes now. By the end of the year, I want to be able to walk for 2 hours at a stretch. 

Arsenal Transfer News for January 2010 Window

This news report will be updated throughout the month. Whenever, a player will join or leave Arsenal, this entry will be updated. In the last few seasons, because of fund shortage, Arsene Wenger was less active in the transfer market and he had to focus on growing young players. This strategy helped Arsenal to remain one of the top 4 clubs continuously without suffering any financial burden like Liverpool but The Gunners could not win any trophy in the last 5 years. So, may be, Wenger will have to change his mind and buy some players. On the other hand, it is not clear yet who will leave this London club.

So, by visiting this news report every day, the Arsenal fans would be able to get all the news about transfers in one place.

January 1

It’s not basically a transfer news but if you are an Arsenal fan then you will be happy to know that Abou Diaby has agreed to extend his contract.
Thanks for Tip Anonymous commenter. It seems that Arsenal has signed Brazil striker Wellington Silva. If you think that he can be a good replacement for Robin van Persie then you have to get disappointed as he is just 16 years old. Wenger has spent £3.5million which seems to be a little too high at the moment but may be he can become the next Theo Walcott.

January 5
Fran Merida has reportedly signed a five-year contract with Spanish club Atletico Madrid and could move to Spain in winter transfer window.

8 January 2010

Ex-Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira joined Manchester City. He is not in good form and that is perhaps why Arsene Wenger did not pursue him.

There was intense media speculation today that Sol Campbell might join the Gunners any day. Wenger has not confirmed it until now. He did not deny the reports fully either.

One speculation Wenger denied very strongly was the earlier media report that captain Cese Fabregas might be traded to Real Madrid in exchange of Gonzalo Higuain.

Arsene Wenger said, "We have a long-term plan to be a winning team - and Cesc Fabregas is part of that. We have worked very hard with all of our players, and they all have a very long contract commitment."

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said something today that may not please most of the fans. He stated that Wenger wont have a lot of funds to go for any big signing during the January 2010 transfer window. He said to Sky Sports News, ""We won't be making moves to respond to short-term pressure and we won't spend irrational amounts of money. But if we can find the right player that can add real quality to the squad, of course we'll make the right move.

We're in a good position, but the thing to always bear in mind is spending money by giving it to other clubs for the talent they have, is not necessarily the answer to all issues."

There are media reports that Wenger is interested about Mauro Zarate of Lazio. His agent said, ""I am in contact with Arsenal. A couple of days ago a leader of the English club asked me about him.

Arsenal wants to increase their attacking options and so already they are preparing an offer of €40 million which they will deliver to Claudio Lotito."

Why should I leave the name of Lacine Traore? Some newspapers and websites reported that Arsenal is also interested about him. 

Arsenal Defeat Portsmouth by 4-1

Arsenal players showed today that they can coup up the pressure even without top players like Van Persie or Fabregas. The match just finished now and Arsenal won it by 4-1. In the end of the first half, the Gunners were leading by 2-0.

When the match started, Portsmouth players showed some promising moves but Arsenal started in a good way. The first goal came with luck as in the 28 minute, the Eduardo freekick deflected a Portsmouth player and it should not have been a goal. However, there was no question about the second goal that came in 42. He got a pass from the egde of the penalty area and he fired a nice shot. Today, Ramsey was in place of Fabregas and in 69 minute, he showed others the justification of Arsene Wenger praise about him by scoring a superb goal. Then, Nadir Belhadj pulled one goal back for Portsmouth but it was really too little too late.  

The best of the goals of Arsenal came in the 81th minute. Alexandre Song scored the goal with a beautiful head. Perhaps, the happiest man in today’s match was referee Wiley who had to show just two yellow cards to two Portsmouth players. Nearly 20,000 spectators watched a decent and exciting match. 

It is a Daily Battle: Day 5

Losing Weight is indeed a daily battle. Today, I ate rice, thick lentil soup, mixed vegetable fry (potato, cauliflower and green bean), tomato bharta and brinjal bharta. Thus, I ate enough food but all of them are very light. Today, I could refrain from eating lentil chop. Lentil chop is very tasty and I have been eating for the last one month. However, it is fried in oil and thus, it is some heavy. So, one day, I could really eat light food.

These days, I eat just one or two meals. Rarely, I eat 3 meals. This has helped me a lot to decrease weight and come out of obesity. Yesterday, I ate just one meal and today, I did the same. At night, I may or may not eat the second meal. Even if I do so, it will be a very light meal. It is winter time here and I cannot tolerate cold like most people. So, I am not pushing myself anyway. In my city, January is the coldest month of the year. Every January, it has become like a annual ritual for me o catch nasty cold.

Anyway, I have to eat less every day to gradually decrease weight. I need to decease another 17 KG and it will take minimum 6 months. That is 6 months of daily battle. It is frustrating and sometimes impossible but I have to do it or else have to suffer for whole life.

Now, my philosophy is to lead a daily life. I try to fight with today. I try not regret for yesterday and not get worried for tomorrow. This is the lesson I learnt from reading Dale Carnegie’s books. I don’t want to influence anyone but myself.

It is a difficult war to win but failure is not really an option. 

Alex Ferguson: It’s Only Chelsea vs Manchester United

In the last few years, it was mainly Chelsea and Manchester United who played for the league title. This season, in the half way mark, Arsenal, Tottenham and Aston Villa are walking on their shadows. Manchester City is not that far behind either. So, many observers are expecting a close title race. However, Sir Alex Ferguson disagrees with them and he thinks that it will be only Chelsea and Manchester United business as usual.

"It is not looking like it at the moment, but history tells you that two teams break away at the end.

"Chelsea are the big danger because they too have great experience.

"At the start of the season I saw Chelsea as our biggest danger and I have not changed my mind.

"Nobody has had a consistent run really," said Alex Ferguson.

Manchester United is suffering from injury problem and the club is yet to find a good replacement for Christiano Ronaldo. 

Carlo Ancelotti: Didier Drogba will not be a Big Problem

Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti has stated that the absence of their top goal scorer of the current season Didier Drogba will not be a big problem for the club in January 2010.

Drogba has scored 14 goals in Premier League (19 in all competitions) this season so far. He along with Kalou will play for Ivory Coast in 2010 African Cup of Nations and if Ivory Coast can go all the way in the tournament then Chelsea will miss these two players for the whole month of January. Mikel John Obi will play Nigerian national team in this African football event.

The absence of Drogba is most likely to be felt for Chelsea. Carlo Ancelotti begs to differ with this kind of idea and stated that in some of the Champions League matches, his club could win without Drogba and they can do the same thing in EPL.  

Carlo Ancelotti said, "Didier has scored 19 goals but without him, this year, we've done very well".

"We won three games in the Champions League without him. We can do the same in the Premier League."

At the moment, Chelsea is the league leader and is ahead of Manchester United by 5 points. 

How Vegetarian Diet is Bringing Hope: Day 4

Today is the fourth day that I have been following a vegetarian diet. I did not eat meat or fish or even most probably not any egg. Today, I ate rice, mixed vegetables fry (potato, green bean cauliflower) and  lentil thick soup and vegetable lentil mixed chop. I ate enough and I don’t feel hungry. I tool two cups of tea with powder milk and some jaggery. It is much better than sugar and of course, healthier. I drank the tea because today, I have to do some writing and some freshness is needed.

These days, rice consumption is limited to just one plate per day. Thus, it has become easier to control carbohydrate intake. Still, I eat white rice and from this Friday (1 January 2010), my goal is to eat only brown rice which contains more nutritional content. In the last 4 days, my weight did not increase but remained in 100 KG or 220 Pounds although I increased consumption of food amount. Now, I am not hungry but today I realized that my weight has started to decrease and after another 4-5 days I may come to 99 KG hopefully. This has brought some hope in my mind that gradually, I can lose weight but I wont become very hungry or weak.

At this point of time, I mainly eat mixed vegetable prepared with some oil, water, onion and garlic and green chili and lentil and vegetable mixed chop. I also eat thick lentil soup every day. Now, in the next level, the goal is to eat healthier items. Roti made of brown flour, brown rice, tomato and cucumber salad with lemon, Lentil watery soup and mixed vegetable fried or curry- I want to go to this kind of diet plan. It is healthier and will help to lose weight.  

South Africa vs England 2nd Test 2009: Report of Day 3

Perhaps England cricket team is going to take the lead of the 2^nd test match against South Africa. Touring side could able to put 43 runs lead in front of home team at the end of day three. Thanks to Alastair Cook’s century and Paul Collingwood’s fighting score in the middle order position has helped England cricket team to make 386 runs for the loss of 5 wickets. Alastair Cook scored 118 which was his 10^th test century. Paul Collingwood’s 91 runs innings set England into a comfortable position. Even it made their patch smooth. Ian Bell is still on the crease along with Matt Prior. They respectively scored 55 and 11 runs.

English opener Alastair Cook has got back his form after scoring a century. It was his first century since May 2009. Neither Kevin Pietersen nor Jonathan Trott could play any important innings for England team.

England started the 3^rd day with 103/1. South African bowler Morne Morkel took three wickets alone where Paul Harris and Jean-Paul Duminy took one wicket apiece. However, more two days are left. These two days can change the match result. England cricket team should try hard to make some quick score so that they can invite South Africa to bat their second innings.

South Africa vs England 2nd Test 2009: Report of Day 2

South Africa and England are playing their second test match at Kingsmead, Durban. Second day of the five-day test match was played today. At the start of the day host team South Africa was in pressure after losing top five players within 175 runs. AB de Villiers and Mark Boucher were in the crease. Villiers’s 50 and Boucher’s 39 helped their team to make a good fighting score. However, they could not stay longer in front of England’s strong bowling line up. They got all out to score 343 runs in their first innings.

English bowler Graeme Swann was the highest wicket taker for his team. He alone took four wickets. James Anderson and Stuart Broad took two wickets each.

After coming to chase South Africa’s innings, England made good start and scored 103 runs for 1 in their first innings. Alastair Cook is on the crease along with Jonathan Trott. They respectively scored 31 and 17. Andrew Strauss scored 54 runs. Morne Morkel took his wicket.

South African bowlers will have to show extra ordinary performance if they want to win the match or finish the match with at least draw. Proteas batsmen had shown disappointing performance. I hope they will try to find out the problem and solve it so that they can make strong come back in the second innings.

Related article:

Telegraph.co.uk

Family Can be an Important Motivation: Day 2

At the end of the movie Jerry Maguire, we can find this memorable quote:

"Hey, I don't have all the answers. In life, to be honest, I failed as much as I have succeeded. But I love my wife. I love my life. And I wish you my kind of success".

Yesterday, I got carried away with very tasty and delicious traditional cakes and in the end, I ate 7 of them. My goal was to eat just two but it was very delicious and I could not resist it. Well, there was another reason too. I had to some intense brain work and this cake helped me. Anyway, today, when I got up, I said to myself that I will not eat any of the sweet cakes which were kept in the refrigerator. I said to myself that I am trying to lose weight and improve my health to live a long and healthy life with my wife. This idea helped me a lot today to keep myself under control.

You don’t have to be married like me to find motivation for losing weight. You also even don’t need to have a GF or BF. All you need to do is to think about the close people in your life. They can be your parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, friends or anyone that you care. Just think that if you can decrease weight then you can enjoy life with them more. If you are sick or suffering from any nasty disease, they suffer just like you emotionally. If you become healthy, if you get cured from any disease, if you come out of obesity then they will be happy just like you or even sometimes more than you.

My wife was very worried for my health. I was too much spoilt about eating and at the same time, I had all the habits of an unhealthy lifestyle. She did not have any problem when I become very fat. Fortunately, both of us think that love should be much more than just looks. However, when you become obese then it is not a matter of beauty or physical appearance. It is dangerous and puts life in jeopardy.

 Of course, life and death are on the hands of God. However, it is our duty to try our best. I did not like to see that my wife was always worried for me but I could not do anything either as changing eating habit it is perhaps one of the top 3 most difficult habits to change.

I hope this entry can help you to think and do some soul searching for yourself. If you are a selfish type of person then still, you can say to yourself that you must lose your weight to make your life smoother and more enjoyable. If you love your spouse a lot then do it for him or her. This is the best give you can give to your spouse. It is better than any expensive gift- really it is. 

Manchester United Defeats Hull City by 3-1: Match Report

Just before the start of the match, Manchester United lost the second position in the league table to Arsenal as the Gunners defeated Aston Villa by 3-0. So, Manchester united had to win the match against Hull City and their players won it by 3-1 in this away fixture. In the half time, United was leading by 1-0. The first goal came just before half time from Wayne Rooney. On the 59^th minute, Hull could score a goal and level the score 1-1. Until that time, Hull played toe to toe with United and the fans were looking for an upset.

On the 73^rd minutes, Hull suffered a bad goal- an own goal from Andy Dawson. Then, Manchester United increased their pressure even more and Dimitar Berbatov scored the third goal for the club on the 83^rd minute.

Hull played well despite losing by 1-3. They had impressive ball possession and the fans were happy with the players but were unhappy with the score line in the end. This defeat means that Hull has now 17 points from 19 matches and they are on the second from bottom position. 

Arsenal 3-0 Aston Villa: 27 December 2009

It was double superb strikes from captain Cese Fabregas that gave Arsenal all 3 points in the match against Aston Villa that finished just now. The other goal was scored by Diaby in the dying seconds of the match.

In the first half, both the teams played equally and created some chances and missed some. In the second half, Fabregas came as a substitute player and his presence changed the match. It was a calculated risk from Arsene Wenger because Fabregas was not fully fit. Fabregas scored the first goal in the 65^th minute. It came from a free kick from outside of the penalty area and it was executed superbly. Fabregas scored the second goal on the 81^st minute thanks to a brilliant pass from Theo Walcott. Vassiriki Diaby scored the 3^rd goal on 91^st minute. The Aston Villa goalkeeper had nothing to do about it.

With this win, Arsenal has progressed in the second position with 38 points from 18 matches. Manchester United can pass Arsenal if they win later today. 

Fighting with Temptation for Heavy Food: Day 1

Today, my aunt sent some delicious foods. There was two items. One was beef curry and the other item was Patishapta Pitha (a traditional cake of Bangladesh). After my wife, I am most fond of this aunt’s cooking. Even from the appearance and smell of the beef curry, I realized that it was very delicious. She sent 1 KG of beef curry. Beef was cut in to small pieces and was then cooked with onion, garlic, red chili powder, turmeric powder and many other kind of spices. I am more fan of mutton (goat meat) than beef but still, in the past, I would have eaten almost 200 grams of this beef with rice in a single lunch or dinner.

Since I started my efforts to decrease weight on 23 October 2009, I had to fight a lot with myself about eating as small amount of meat as possible. Today, I noticed that my heart, stomach or tongue did not cry for it. I was surprised and happy. There were nearly 30 pieces of this traditional cake. I am so much fan of this cake that I could easily eat 10 pieces in a single seating. Today, I controlled myself and just ate 2 pieces and that is the end of this cake. I am not going to eat it anymore in the next few days.

Instead, for lunch, I ate some lentil chop. First red lentil is soaked in water and then smashed with a stone manually. Then some chopped onion, garlic and green chilies are mixed with the red lentil paste along with some turmeric powder and red chili powder. Then in round shape it is fried. The lentil chop is full of protein. In our language, we call it Piyaju or daler bora. Anyway, today, I omitted rice intentionally in lunch as I ate that traditional cake.

I will be eating dinner after 30-40 minutes. In dinner, I am going to eat Chotpoti- perhaps the most favorite snacks in Bangladesh. It can be a very healthy or unhealthy item depending on how you prepare it. As I am on diet, naturally, I am going to eat in a healthy way. That means, I am going to omit red chili powder from the recipe.

Chotpoti is mainly made with boiled White pea, boiled potato and egg, sliced onion and green chili, tamarind water and to make it healthier, we added sliced cucumber and tomato and some lemon juice. The good part is that it does not contain any oil or nothing is fried. Here, people eat it as a snack in the afternoon or evening. However, I like it so much that I can eat it as dinner. If you are an European or American then you will perhaps include it in the salad category. Of course, you will need to omit green chili totally. Also, don’t eat it a lot because even in my city, most people get trouble with their stomach if they eat a lot.

I am talking a lot about food today because this is the number one problem for anyone like me who is hanging around the scale of obesity. As I told you, today, in my home, there is very delicious beef curry and cakes. Sometimes, I felt that if I ate small amount of beef with rice then it is no problem.

At the end of the day, I learnt one valuable lesson. The best way to combat with the temptation of heavy food is to find alternatives healthy food items. For example, today, instead of spicy and oily beef curry, I opted for red lentil chop. I am grateful to God for this kind of change. However, just remember that at the beginning it is difficult. You will fall and fail in your pursuit of losing weight. No problem, failure is pillar of success.
 

Chelsea Stumbles against Birmingham in Boxing Day 2009

English Premier League leader Chelsea stumbled and could only get a draw with Birmingham. It was a 0-0 draw on Boxing day. The match just finished 5 minutes ago. At the 88 minute, Florent Malouda of Chelsea was shown red card and they had to play with 10 men in the last few minutes of the match.

With this draw, Chelsea is still leading the point table with 42 points from 19 matches. Manchester United is in second position with 37 points from 18 matches. So, tomorrow, whatever, happens in the match between Manchester United and Hull, Chelsea will remain in top position in the league. This is the second successive draw for Chelsea in Premier League.  

Disclaimer

Since, I decided to change the top of the blog and make it a blog in which I will write about my efforts to lose weight, I need to write this disclaimer.

First of all, I am not expert or no way qualified about giving medical advice or any kind of advice at all about weight loss, diet, fitness, obesity or any related issue. So, please, do not try to follow any of the things mentioned in this blog without consulting a doctor first. If you do so then you are at your own peril. You cannot blame me or this blog because I am again asking you to consult an expert person before doing anything.

Secondly, my goal is to increase my mental strength in this very challenging and tough journey of losing weight and trying to overcome overweight and bad eating habit. Just treat all the content for motivational and entertainment purpose. For learning about your health and body, just go to a doctor. 

Weight Loss Journey of an Obese Man

Yes, this will be tile of this blog from now. From the heading, you can easily understand that I am going to write about my fight against obesity and my efforts to decrease some weight. Well, in fact, I need to lose a lot of pounds. These days, I guess that millions of people around the world are suffering from this problem. Being fat is no longer an uncommon thing in any big city even if the city is situated in a poor country. Urban life has its many advantages but it has some disadvantages too.

No, it wont be a weight loss blog. I am not going to teach you anything because I am not a doctor or fitness trainer. In fact, I have no qualification or knowledge about diet, obesity, exercise or weight lost. I am just changing this blog topic only to record my personal journey and hopefully, some readers may get encouraged by it.

Today in my city, it was Christmas Day (25 December) 2009. Now, it is late night and thus 26 December 2009 has just started 4 hours ago.

First of all, I am going to tell you my weight and other factors:

Height: 6 feet o 72 inches or 1.83 meter (183 centimeters)

Weight Today: 100 KG or 220 Pounds

My BMI Index: 29.8 (Almost Obesity Level)

Weight on 23 October 2009: 110 KG or 242 Pounds

BMI Index of 23 October 2009: 32.8

Last week, I did my blood glucose test for Diabetes and thanks God that I did not catch this disease.

My Age: On March 22 2010, I will become 35

These are the conditions of my body at this moment. I caught Obesity at January 2007. I have been in and out of it for the last 3 years. On this October, it reached to very bad level and my health got seriously affected. So, I decided that something must be done.

In the past, I tried to decrease weight but failed all the time. The main problem was that I had very unhealthy eating habit and all the time, my goal was to decrease weight but starving for a few days and then again go back to the junk foods that I liked Thus, I could never become successful in losing weight and then keeping it.

This time, I had a do or die mentality and in fact at the age of 35, I felt like a 75 years old person. Anyway, this time, I did one very good thing. I started reading a lot about obesity and weight loss and healthy food. This reading opened my eyes. I realized that I must radically change my health or I have to suffer for the rest of life from bad health condition.

So, I decreased my amount of food and at the same time, totally changed my food. Here, I am giving you a list of the food items that I used to eat mainly in the past and the items I eat now:

Past	Now
Polao or Oily and Saty Rice	Plain Rice
Porota (Oily Bread)	Roti
Refined Flour	whole wheat-flour
Mutton (Goat Meat) cooked with a lot of spice and Oil	Lentil Soup with very small amount of oil and spice
Pizza, Burgher	Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Potato Chop, Mutton Chop and Beef Chop	Lentil and Small Shrimp Mixed Chop fried in small amount of oil
Coca Cola or Pepsi	Just Water
2-4 Cups of Coffee Every Day	Just Waster and occasionally a cup of Tea
Sweet and Sweet (traditional Bengali sweets	Apple
Cake, Pastry and Biscuits (Cookies)	Grapes
Ice Cream	Cold Water
Beef Curry cooked with a lot of Onion, Oil and Spice	Potato, Cauli Flower, Green bean and Cavage Fry with small amount of oil and almost no spice
2-4 Plates of Rice	Limited to Just one plate of Rice
Almost daily outside food	No outside (shop) food at all
Chips (Crisps)	I don’t miss them, really

Many of the food items are local but just do a Google search and you will get the picture. Thus, acting in a spoilt way, I made a complete mess of my health.

I could come out of Obesity this time too but I am still hanging around the danger zone. In fact, yesterday, I noticed that my weight reached to 101 KG and I went to Obesity zone. Then I became careful and I ate very light food today and thus, I am again back to the overweight zone. Believe me, changing food habit and losing weight are very difficult. Don’t believe those attractive advertisements that promise that you can easily lose 20-30 pounds in a month or two. Instead, try to read in Internet about diet and losing weight.

The most important thing is that never give up. Try to have a lot of mental strength. In my own personal Odyssey of weight loss, I have realized that will power is the most important factor. Just consistently tell yourself that you can do it, you can really do it. What I understand that most people think that changing food style is impossible. Or if you want to decrease weight then you will have to give a lot of time for physical exercise. Well, I don’t want to say that you don’t need any of or they are easy. However, when you reach to Obese level, you don’t have any choice. More than that, at first, it is really difficult. However, after a few days and weeks, it really becomes tolerable. The more time you spend, the easier it becomes.

At first, changing eating habit was really an impossible task for me. My belly was all the time crying from missing my favorite foods. However, after 9 weeks (64 days), I don’t miss any of the junk food items that I enjoyed in the past. Instead, I really like cucumber salad, bread made of whole wheat-flour, lentil soup and sometimes an egg fry. I wont lie to you. My heart cried a lot for Mutton curry for 55 days and I ate occasionally some meat (once a week). Then, in the last one week, my tongue has lost its attraction for mutton and I did not eat even one gram of meat in the last 7 days. My tongue now does not cry for it.

My heart is now functioning better; my weight has decreased 22 pounds in 64 days. This good feeling has motivated me a lot. I don’t go any party these days. If I have to go then I will eat a lot of salad and some rice.

Now, I have the second chapter in my weight loss adventure. I have to decrease another 17 KG or 38 pounds. If I can come to 83 KG only then my BMI will go under 25 for the first time. It is a very tough and long journey. It will take around 4-8 months. Of course, losing the next 8 KG will be the toughest. Then, it will be some easier because I can increase my physical activity.

Well, I have understood one thing very well, it is needs more mental effort than physical effort. Why am saying it?

In the next few months, some days, I will go out of my way and eat a lot. Some days, I may be tempted eat the old bad foods that I used to it or I may not able to control myself but eat restaurant foods.

These things can happen. After all I am neither God nor Machine. I know that in some weeks, despite all of my good efforts, weight can increase a KG or instead of decreasing. These things can happen very easily and naturally. However, I must keep my spirit high and continue my efforts. I basically need to do 3 things:

Eat some less amount of food each day

Eat just healthy food items and totally stop eating outside food and junk food

Do some physical activities like walking   

Well, unfortunately, I have another change to make. I have lost habit of sleeping at night because of blogging. Now it is time to go back to working at day and sleeping at night.

I hope that some of my readers can continue to be with me. I am again stating that I am not a doctor or I have no qualification about this topic. I am trying myself recording my personal journey to get some mental strength. Always consult a doctor before trying anything as far as weight loss is concerned. 

Real Madrid Targets Champions League Title in 2010

Spanish giant Real Madrid has set their 2010 target on Champions League title. Real Madrid is now looking to win their 10^th Champions League title next year in front of their home fans as the Champions league 2010 final is scheduled to take place at their home ground. The Los Merengues are keen to mark the occasion special by winning another European title.

Madrid stars Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo met the club president Florentino Perez to celebrate Christmas and they vowed to win the European title. Ronaldo said, “It would be amazing to reach the Champions League final for both the players and the fans.”

Kaka said, “"We can play the [Champions League] final at home, and it is a key objective to fight for it for our fans. It will also be a special year because of the World Cup. It would be great to enjoy a good year with Real Madrid and the national team."

Real Madrid spent heavily in Summer transfer window to strengthen its squad as the La Blancos did not win any title last season.

Liverpool and Manchester United: January 2010 Transfer Rumors

Liverpool is going through some tough time at the moment and they would certainly try their best to strength the squad for the second half of the season. Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy has been linked with a move to the Merseyside club. Erik Huseklepp of Brann could also move to Liverpool in January, even though Wigan Athletic and Hull City are also in the race to secure his service. Manager Rafael Benitez is also interested to buy the experienced Emile Heskey. Aiden McGeady of Celtic, Luca Toni of Bayern, Eljero Elia of Hamburg and Arda Turan of Galatasaray are also linked with a move to Liverpool.

Manchester United has been going smoothly, except some hiccups, since the departure of Ronaldo, but it is not yet certain that they are going to spend heavily in January. They would definitely have their own share of deals in January. In fact, the club has reportedly been linked with a number of players so far. Nani could leave Old Trafford, if any clubs make realistic bid for the winger. Benfica winger Angel di María could be his possible replacement.

Pakistan and Australia Facing Each Other in Boxing Day Test

From tomorrow will start the three match test series between Australia and Pakistan. After a long time, Pakistan is going to face Australia and many people are looking forward to the series. Both teams have gone through some hard time recently. Pakistan did not look very strong against New Zealand in the recent series though they could level it 1-1, while Australia failed to show as much domination against West Indies as they are usually used to, even though they won it 2-0.

So, Australia and Pakistan would like to show some strong performance in the series. The first test will be held in Melbourne. Danish Kaneria and Ricky Ponting are doubtful for the first match. You can get the review of the first test between Pakistan and Australia here.

With both sides looking to feature some good performance, it seems that cricket fans are going to enjoy an exciting Boxing Day test in Melbourne.

Arsenal is Less Active in the Transfer Market

Arsenal seems to be less active ahead of the winter transfer window as manager Wenger has already indicated that Arsenal would not have a “very busy transfer market.” Still, rumors available in the media suggest that Arsenal could make a bid for a loan deal for Dutch striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who is currently playing for AC Milan. Meanwhile, there are also reports that defender William Gallas could talk to other clubs in January as Wenger is reluctant to hand him a long-term deal as he is now in his 30s. West Ham’s Matthew Upson or Gary Cahill of Bolton or Neven Subotic of Borussia Dortmund could be the possible replacements of Gallas at the Emirates. Reports also suggest Arsenal’s link with a number of strikers including Carlton Cole of West Ham, Andre-Pierre Gignac of Toulouse and Bordeaux striker Marouane Chamakh, though all of these are still just rumors.

Chelsea Active in January 2010 Transfer Window

January transfer window 2010 is coming up next in European club football and clubs are now busy with their possible transfer deals and targets. Among the big clubs, Chelsea seems to be desperate to strengthen their side in January as they are waiting for the final verdict of their two-year transfer ban imposed by FIFA.
Chelsea is currently linked with Valencia striker David Villa who has been in super form over the last couple of seasons. The Blues are also reportedly eyeing Bolton Wanderers’ Fabrice Muamba and Porto striker Falcao. However, Villa seems to the first choice of Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti.

Avram Grant Facing a Tough Job at Portsmouth

Former Chelsea manager Avram Grant has recently joined struggling EPL side Portsmouth who are now facing a possible relegation this season. Grant, who guided Chelsea to their first Champions League final last year, is now facing a number of problems at his new job. First of all, Portsmouth is going through a financial crisis as it has a huge debt and reports out in the media suggest that the club may not be allowed to buy any new player in January with their current amount of debt.

Despite the debts, Portsmouth is determined to bring some new faces in winter transfer window as they are preparing to cut their debt to some extent, and thus, attaining the permission of buying new players. Moreover, the condition for Portsmouth will be much more intensified when five of its African players will be out with international duty in January. Grant is reportedly interested to buy at least two new players, most probably Olivier Kapo of Wigan Athletics.

Can Aston Villa Complete the Grand Slam against Arsenal this Sunday?

On this Sunday, Aston Villa is playing against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. Until now, Villa has defeated Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool. If they can defeat Arsenal on Sunday then it will be like a grand slam of defeating the top 4. Villa is now currently at the fourth position and in fact, they have the same number of points with Arsenal but Arsenal is ahead of goal difference and has played one match less than Villa.

From the current performance, Villa looks to be a formidable side on Sunday’s match. However, in this season, Arsenal, is in sublime form at home. They have lost just one match at home and it was against the league leader Chelsea. 

Andrei Arshavin about Playing in Arsenal and English Premier League

Andrei Arshavin came to Arsenal almost a year ago and from first, he became the favorite player to the fans. He not only scored goals but also, he always supported others and he scored some very important goals in important matches. He recently, said to Sky Sports that surviving in Premier league is tougher than he thought.

"I expected before I moved to England, if you are a good player if you play for a big team it is easier. But even if you play against Burnley or Wolverhampton, it is not easy - you don't have time to turn or do any dribbling, if you get two touches you're lucky,” said the Russian playmaker.

He is right. English Premier League is now the best football league in the world. You can never take any match for granted here. Best example was that last week, Manchester United and Liverpool both lost while Chelsea could just manage a draw. 

Liverpool Taking on Wolverhampton Wanderers on Boxing Day

This is the first time these two clubs are facing each other in a Boxing Day match. Liverpool has impressive record in Boxing day matches and has won 5 out of the last 6 matches in this day.

About the match, Liverpool Coach Rafa Benitez said "We must start winning, against Wolves certainly, and then we will see a change.

"Alberto picked up a calf injury in the win against Wigan and was not able to travel to Portsmouth. He is getting better but we will have to see how he progresses. He is certainly in contention to play against Wolves.”

The match wil take place on Saturday 26 December 2009 at Anfield and it will start on 17.30 GMT. 

Rafael Benitez: It’s Not Impossible to Leave Liverpool

Rafael Benitez is under a lot of pressre from all sides because of the poor performance of Liverpool in England and in Europe. At the EPL table, Liverpool currently lies at the 8^th position. If they fail to in the top four by the end of the season then they would not qualify for Champions League next year. Rafael Benitez has spoken about the situation and he stated that he was confident that his players would perform well and the club would finish in the top in the league table. He however did not rule out leaving the club if Liverpool fails to qualify for next season’s Champions League.

"The players have confidence. They know that we are training well and we have to improve. We have to win games, starting with the next game against Wolves.

"Will I quit if we don't qualify for the Champions League? Let's start winning some games and then see where we are shall we?

"There is a lot of pressure these days on managers and that is the way society is - everything is so fast, everything is needed so quickly, and we have to accept that.

"It is the way of football, and the way of life. There are a lot of people investing a lot of money in football, and these days they want a quick return. But I have confidence in my side that we can get out of this," said Rafael Benitez.

There was some reports that Liverpool club might have change of owner soon. 

Peter Siddle and Philip Hughes made it into to Boxing day test squad

For the upcoming Boxing Day Test against Pakistan, the Australia National Selection Panel announced its thirteen-man team. Though top players like Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and team captain, Ricky Ponting are suffering from injuries, pacer Peter Siddle and opener Philip Hughes were able to recover from injury in time. Philip Hughes will be the standby for captain Ricky Ponting, who injured a tendon in his left arm. Chairman of the National Selection Panel, Andrew Hilditch, told reporters that Philip has been named for his exciting debut against South Africa and based on his recent performance at the Weet-Bix Sheffield Shield cricket.

Peter Siddle, the right-arm fast-medium bowler, was also suffering from hamstring strain injury but on December 22, 2009, he declared himself fit and included in the Pakistan test team. Peter also participated in a one-day match against New South Wales in Sydney on December 23, 2009.

Ben Hilfenhaus, the right-arm fast-medium bowler, has been suffering from a knee injury would not be able to play the test.

Does Arsene Wenger has the Money to buy a Replacement for Robin van Persie?

When it comes to criticizing Arsene Wenger, many people are very quick to point out that his wrong policy of not buying top players has kept Arsenal trophyless for the last 4 seasons. Now, Wenger is eager to buy a top quality striker to replace Robin van Persie who is most likely to miss the entire season because of injury. Now, my question to the Wenger critics, Does he will get enough money from the club to buy a top quality striker. I don’t think that he will get enough money. In fact, he needs to buy two quality strikers and one midfielder.

He turned both Robin van Persie and Fabregas into world class footballers and if Arsenal wants to sell them then they will get millions of dollars.

Related News

Telegraph

Roman Abramovich Arranging £55 million in January Transfer Window

It has been reported that Chelsea’s Russian owner Roman Abramovich has been able to arrange £55 for the January transfer window for the club. Chelsea has three problems ahead of them. First of all, the club’s recent performance is not good and they are now leading Manchester Untied by just 4 points. Secondly, they will be without some their best players in whole of January due to 2010 African Cup of Nations. Then, they are at risk of being banned by FIFA about taking part in transfer deals until 2011. So, January 2010 transfer windows has become very important for them.
According to media reports, Atletico Madrid striker Sergio Aguero is the first target for Abramovich. He is also interested about some other players.

Prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah Buying Liverpool Club?

At this moment, it is a media speculation but the signs are that Prince Faisal bin Fahad bin Abdullah may become the new owner of Liverpool Football Club within a few days. The club is suffering from financial difficulties because of massive debt. Prince Faisal has announced publicly on TV that he was going to London to watch the Boxing Day match of Liverpool against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Prince Faisal is expected to buy the 50% share of co-owner George Gillett. It would not make him the owner of the club right away as there is Tom Hicks too.

If Prince Faisal buys Liverpool FC then he may follow the same strategy of Manchester City Owner from UAE- inject a lot of cash and buy some world class players. At this moment, nothing is for sure. 

Arsene Wenger Celebrates 4 Trophyless Years

In the last 1 year, Arsene Wenger has suffered a lot of criticism from almost everyone for not winning a single trophy in the last 4 seasons. Now, Wenger has replied his critics by stating that it was the best time for him. He said that because he had to work on a limited budget, he had to improve his team to ensure that Arsenal stays among the top clubs in England.

"The last four years have been the most challenging period of my career.

"But it is not linked with not winning a trophy.

"Moving into a new stadium and keeping the team at the top means, for me, my best period has been in the last four years.

"To move into a stadium with less resources, respect the fact we have still made some money every year without the team dropping down a level,” Arsene Wenger said to The Sun.

This season, Arsenal is out of the Carling Cup but is in the third position in English Premier League and could advance in the knockout of Champions League 2009-10. 

Portsmouth manager Avram Grant Upset with 2010 African Cup of Nations Timing

Avram Grant has expressed dissatisfaction with the timing of 2010 African Cup of Nations. This grand event of African football will take place on January and Portsmouth is going to miss some of their important players who would be engaged with this national teams. Aruna Dindane of Ivory Coast, Kanu of Nigeria, Nadir Belhadj and Hassan Yebda of Algeria- these 4 key players of Portsmouth are likely to be missed in January. Avram Grant has questioned the wisdom of FIFA officials for holding such an event during the mid season of European leagues.

"We pay a lot of money, especially the big teams, to players who are not with us for two months. I think Fifa need to think about this.

"Firstly, you have to change the team and secondly, it's not easy when they are back.

"They are coming from hot weather to the coldest days in England. It takes more than a few days to get them back to normal," said a very annoyed Avram Grant. Now, it is to be seen that how Avram Grant and his team can coup without these key players.  

Gary Neville: Arsenal and Chelsea Should Stop Complaining

Gary Neville of Manchester United has reacted very sharply against both Chelsea and Arsenal managers. Manchester United currently at the 2^nd place in league table while Chelsea is at the top and Arsenal is occupying the third position.  Recently, Chelsea officials have been vocal about losing some of their top players next month due to 2010 African Cup of Nations. Drogba and Essien will be busy for their national teams and cannot play for Chelsea for nearly a month. At that time, Chelsea does not have any match in UEFA Champions League but will have to play in a number of crucial matches in EPL. However, according to Gary Neville, Chelsea officials should have thought about it at the start of this season as they knew about African Cup of Nations schedule.

"Chelsea will lose some big players like Drogba and Essien but I don’t expect them to struggle. They will only lose their players for three or four league games; we’ve lost seven defenders to injuries this month. Chelsea were aware when they signed those players they might be called up every few years for the African Nations Cup, so they cannot complain about it,” Neville said it for Chelsea.

On the other hand, Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger criticized very bitterly Wolves manager Mick McCarthy for putting a very team against Manchester Untied at Old Trafford a few days ago. Gary Neville stated that Mick McCarthy had a different agenda in his mind compared to Arsene Wenger and Wenger should shut his mouth up and mind his own business. 

India and Sri Lanka Teams are in Kolkata for 4th ODI of the Series

India and Sri Lanka are now at eastern city of Kolktata. They arrived earlier today and the fourth match will take place on Thursday (24 December 2009). The match will take place at the famous Eden Gardens, the largest cricket stadium in India. For team India, there is one bad news-  Yuvraj Singh si unavailable for the match because of finger injury. He will not also play in the fifth and last ODI. Indian selectors have not stated yet who would replace him.

Sri Lanka has similar injury problems too. Eden Garden is good for batting and spinners get some turn. In the last 3 matches, it was batting that decided the outcome of the match.

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Below, you can find a short report about the fourth ODI between India and Sri Lanka.

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