I've never minded Friday the 13th. I'm not really superstitious, anyway, and Fridays are always good days for me.
169 pounds.
I'm really getting the hang of this. I spent two weeks sewing in the evenings and got almost no exercise, which is something I need to change. I went back to walking in the evenings, and I even jogged a little last night, for the first time in ten years. Okay, so I jogged about a block. Everybody has to start somewhere, right?
I need to start checking the classified ads for a treadmill. I ran on the treadmills at the PEC when I was in college and it was a lot easier on my legs (I gave up jogging the first time because I decided I'd like to have knees when I'm sixty). One of my model horse friends swears by elliptical machines, too. Hmm.
Anyway, I like exercise, and I'm really not suffering in the food department. I'm eternally grateful to my parents that they raised us to like fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy, and that they didn't have any concept of "kid food" versus "adult food." I cannot picture my mother making separate meals for us had we refused what everybody else was eating--we never had macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets around as "rewards" for our stubbornness in the face of green beans and fish. We didn't really do desserts, either. I eat more sugar now than I did as a child, which is bad, but so far, cutting back hasn't been that big a problem.
It's interesting to see which food tricks work. Oatmeal really is food genius. Oatmeal and egg whites will keep you going a long time. Five small meals a day is also genius, at least for me. I find that I have a bit of a phobia about being hungry and tend to eat preemptively, even though I'm clearly in no danger of starving. I don't recall doing that when I was a child, or in college, so my guess is it's a holdover from one of my old jobs, where we often worked busy, physically-active, 14+-hour days and I usually ate breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 2:00, and dinner when I got home at, oh, 10:00, at which point I thought I was going to keel over. (I also have the usual vices of eating when I'm either bored or tired.)
I'm drinking more tea and less coffee at work, because I don't need sugar for the tea. I've cut back to one teaspoon of sugar for the coffee, too. I always order iced tea at restaurants, instead of Coke. Sweet tea here is always sweeter than I want and has a funny (corn syrup?) aftertaste that I don't like, so I get unsweetened and add some sugar; it's still sugar but a lot less than I'd get in a Coke. I've yet to find a low-calorie sweetener whose flavor I can tolerate.
I always ask for a take-home box. I often get two or three extra meals out of one restaurant meal, usually by adding more vegetables. (Side note: Applebee's has a new selection of meals that they claim are under 500 calories. They have the added benefit of not being huge, un-finishable portions. The steak with new potatoes and vegetables was pretty good. Could have used more vegetables, but I'm not really complaining.)
Another thing that I find helps me is that I don't eat dessert right after dinner. I still eat dessert, but I eat it late, after I walk the dog, and walk myself. At that point, I'm hot, sweaty, and tired, and I find sweets sound a lot less appetizing when what I really need is water, a shower, and off to bed. I let half a pint of ice cream fossilize to the point of unsalvageability because I never got around to eating it.
169 pounds.
I'm really getting the hang of this. I spent two weeks sewing in the evenings and got almost no exercise, which is something I need to change. I went back to walking in the evenings, and I even jogged a little last night, for the first time in ten years. Okay, so I jogged about a block. Everybody has to start somewhere, right?
I need to start checking the classified ads for a treadmill. I ran on the treadmills at the PEC when I was in college and it was a lot easier on my legs (I gave up jogging the first time because I decided I'd like to have knees when I'm sixty). One of my model horse friends swears by elliptical machines, too. Hmm.
Anyway, I like exercise, and I'm really not suffering in the food department. I'm eternally grateful to my parents that they raised us to like fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy, and that they didn't have any concept of "kid food" versus "adult food." I cannot picture my mother making separate meals for us had we refused what everybody else was eating--we never had macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, or chicken nuggets around as "rewards" for our stubbornness in the face of green beans and fish. We didn't really do desserts, either. I eat more sugar now than I did as a child, which is bad, but so far, cutting back hasn't been that big a problem.
It's interesting to see which food tricks work. Oatmeal really is food genius. Oatmeal and egg whites will keep you going a long time. Five small meals a day is also genius, at least for me. I find that I have a bit of a phobia about being hungry and tend to eat preemptively, even though I'm clearly in no danger of starving. I don't recall doing that when I was a child, or in college, so my guess is it's a holdover from one of my old jobs, where we often worked busy, physically-active, 14+-hour days and I usually ate breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 2:00, and dinner when I got home at, oh, 10:00, at which point I thought I was going to keel over. (I also have the usual vices of eating when I'm either bored or tired.)
I'm drinking more tea and less coffee at work, because I don't need sugar for the tea. I've cut back to one teaspoon of sugar for the coffee, too. I always order iced tea at restaurants, instead of Coke. Sweet tea here is always sweeter than I want and has a funny (corn syrup?) aftertaste that I don't like, so I get unsweetened and add some sugar; it's still sugar but a lot less than I'd get in a Coke. I've yet to find a low-calorie sweetener whose flavor I can tolerate.
I always ask for a take-home box. I often get two or three extra meals out of one restaurant meal, usually by adding more vegetables. (Side note: Applebee's has a new selection of meals that they claim are under 500 calories. They have the added benefit of not being huge, un-finishable portions. The steak with new potatoes and vegetables was pretty good. Could have used more vegetables, but I'm not really complaining.)
Another thing that I find helps me is that I don't eat dessert right after dinner. I still eat dessert, but I eat it late, after I walk the dog, and walk myself. At that point, I'm hot, sweaty, and tired, and I find sweets sound a lot less appetizing when what I really need is water, a shower, and off to bed. I let half a pint of ice cream fossilize to the point of unsalvageability because I never got around to eating it.
Comments