Tag diet

Our Friends Don’t Care if We are Fat!

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Our Friends Don’t Care if We are Fat!PEI Lobster Dinner

I’m being a little callous here but I’m guessing that more than half our friends don’t really care if we lose weight or not. Yes, they would worry if we fell ill because of it but, on a day to day basis, they probably love us for who we are. But they don’t really care much, one way of the other, about our weight. Or how we might feel about our weight. The other half, some of them may be trying to lose weight themselves, might even be hoping we fail! 🙂

Dieting is a lonely endeavour. That doesn’t mean we can’t feel empathy for each other, even if only for brief periods of time. It doesn’t mean we can’t share parts of each other’s journeys. And those things too can be valuable. But for the most part, we’re left to our own devices when it comes to weight loss.

Below is the text of a Facebook post that I shared with my friends. The pic that accompanied it is above.

Poor man’s dinner in PEI …
Endless bowl of seafood chowder.
A salad (wtf is that for? Though half the plate was potato salad, so not bad!) 
Endless bucket of mussels (ate them all but did not ask for more!)
PEI spuds swimming in half a pound of butter.
And, of course, a sea cockroach!
I didn’t eat the delicious, fresh baked little loaves of bread that sang out to me the whole time!
AND I skipped dessert.
Good boy, Paul!

Most will give it a like. Or rejoin with a little humerous comment of their own. But very few will comment on the diet & weight-loss parts of the post. Not that I would want them to do that publicly. My skinny friends might be horrified! LOL

But you’d think one or two might share a word of encouragement by personal message or something, wouldn’t you? Or perhaps they’ve seen me fail too many times before & they don’t want to embarrass me? And yes, now that I think about it, I might actually be embarrassed. Worse yet, is it possible that I might perceive the message as insincere? Supporting each other can be a complex thing sometimes. Despite the challenges, I’m grateful for the friends I have in my life anyway.

On the other hand … screw them! I’ll get my revenge when I strut into the next social gathering several pounds lighter! 🙂

PS … The funny side of dieting & life aside, I am actually a little worried at the moment. I haven’t really tested this level of looseness, of so little dietary restriction, previously. Have I been too loose over the course of this holiday? Did I go overboard a couple of times too many? When I look at that pic, & realise how much I ate at that one meal, I have to say … I’m a lot worried! The scale will tell the tale this coming weekend.

I know you don’t care all that much but please cross your fingers for me! 🙂 🙂 🙂

Gurus & Diets

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Gurus & DietsCows & Flowers

I’ve always loved modern gurus. You know the kind I’m talking about, the ones that leap & bound around the stage, exhorting us to be the best we can be. No! We can be even better than that! These days we sometimes call them life coaches. You can take courses on how to be a life coach so there are life coach coaching gurus to follow now. I’m guessing most graduates of such courses do a good job but when I spend my hard earned money, I want to see a superstar in action. I want to be entertained, motivated, exhorted to the max. There are gurus like this in every field. Promising athletic levels of fitness, bodybuilder musculature, huge wealth through investment & real estate schemes, all of which will make us rich beyond our imagination. And, of course, there are the gurus of diet.

While I am still entertained by such figures, & I continue to listen & learn from them, I’m aware that my initial enthusiasm wanes back to normal after about 3 days. Since most of us who listen to these highly motivating people are not slim & fit millionaires, I’m guessing that decline in enthusiasm happens for most people. I’m disappointed with myself when that happens, of course. I know it’s not the gurus fault, it’s mine. I didn’t do it right. I didn’t follow the rules. I didn’t step up. I’m not suggesting that it doesn’t work for some people, it certainly does. The testimonials are there to prove it. Over the long haul though, it just doesn’t seem to work for me.

This seems particularly apt when it comes to diet. Weight loss feels like it should be more of a leisurely walking marathon. Perhaps with a little jog here & there. For me, it’s certainly not an explosive, short, sharp sprint to the finish. It’s difficult to maintain such a high level of intensity all the way down to our goal weight. There is nothing wrong with an occasional sprint. But for most of us, most of the time, we need a strategy that allows us to succeed at a slower pace. One that allows us to still feel good while the finish line is out of reach. A system that, somehow, hangs in there when we’re just not feeling that super-high level of motivation. A lifestyle that doesn’t demand huge sacrifice each & every day.

We could really use an approach that is more suited to that pace of living. Not one aligned with wishful thinking. We need an approach that is flexible enough to match the realities of actually living life.

Now that’s all starting to sound quietly amazing, restful even. Despite the low key, I’m almost a believer already. And that’s without all the motivational theatrics!

But I wonder if my scale will agree with me when I return from vacation! LOL

Bread Depresses Me!

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Bread Depresses Me!Nova Scotia Lobster

I still don’t know if this is real or imagined but bread definitely does something to my mood. I keep coming back to this because it’s the one thing I haven’t figured out how to integrate into my dietary regimen. Yet! I’m sure there’s a solution out there, maybe an old strain of the wheat grain will work for me. Or an alternate grain, but I haven’t bothered to chase it down yet.

Meantime, I’m faced with the fact that I pay a price for eating bread. I pay with reduced impulse control. I pay on the scale. And I pay by feeling just a little blue afterwards. And often this persists through to the following morning. After eating bread, I am tempted by other treats that, typically, don’t cross my mind. I try to buy a bar of dark chocolate in anticipation of the loss of control but even that doesn’t provide sufficient resistance sometimes. Most interestingly, I tend to have feelings of light despair, uneasy anxiety, or perhaps it’s just a hint of melancholia. None of these feelings are normal for me. Circumstances don’t change but, after eating bread, I do. It’s possible that the other items I eat, because of the lack of impulse control, are contributing but I think I’ve narrowed it down to bread.

So why do you eat it then, you idiot!

Well sometimes you just do, don’t you! The past week vacationing in Nova Scotia has been wonderful. And one of the great things about being in Nova Scotia is the wide availability of seafood, particularly lobster. Once considered nothing more than a sea bug, an ocean cockroach, it’s now a luxury dining item. Because of demand, it’s not cheap here either. But it’s a lot cheaper than back home so I’m indulging! Anything you can imagine is done with lobster here. And it’s available everywhere. Forget gourmet restaurants, you can get lobster from diners & food trucks in Nova Scotia! Sure you can eat just lobster but you can also have lobster salad, lobster Cesar salad, lobster cakes, lobster club sandwiches, even lobster mac & cheese. And a big favourite with the tourists is the lobster roll. It’s exactly what you’d imagine … a big roll of bread, stuffed to overflowing, with lobster meat. I just knew I’d have to have one. And I did. Yesterday.

So today, I’m just a little off as I write. I’m looking forward to eating far less today. And definitely no bread. I hope I didn’t do too much damage & that my scale will forgive me when I step aboard.

PS … I have to add that this is a fantastic place for a holiday. It’s just ridiculously beautiful, the air is clean, the beaches are glorious. The people are great & the food is to die for. I warn you though, don’t think you’ll accomplish all you set out to do. Maps & the internet do not provide insight into all the distractions you’ll face along the way. Everything takes longer, way longer, than you imagine because it’s impossible to resist the impulse to follow one more sign, to a place with some unpronounceable name. And then you’ll find yourself sitting on a beach, in a deserted cove, that you can call your own for an hour or two. It’s magical. I highly recommend a visit.

And yes, the lobster roll was worth the pain! 🙂

Dieting on Vacation

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Dieting on Vacation

It’s impossible, right? The jury is out for me on that question, just for the moment. But I’m cautiously optimistic that I’m not doing too much damage. I doubt I’m getting off scot-free but if a diet cannot accommodate such things, what use is it for living an enjoyable life? While I am committed to enjoying my vacation to the fullest, a very interesting thing happened yesterday … I left food on my plate!

I genuinely can not remember the last time that happened. I’ve been eating reasonably well for the past month & a half, could it be that my ability to recognize satiety is returning? Or was it just guilt because I ate half the slab of fish that my dining companion didn’t want to eat!?! Hey, it was all locally caught, & I’m here for that local experience, what can I say!

Regardless, I actually left some food on my plate. While I can still clearly hear my Ma’s adminitions to “clean your plate”, advice I’ve unfortunately followed since childhood, I was just a little smug getting up to leave. 😃

I might try that again sometime. Even if it’s just one bite!

Oops! I Ate This …

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Oops! I Ate This …

I’m on the road & I’m suffering withdrawal. From my bathroom scale! It’s like I need that added feedback loop to guide me. While I’m only logging weight once a month, I like the daily feedback.

But that’s probably just an excuse to eat all the wrong things for a bit! Lunch was that breakfast bowl in the pic. I attacked it with such gusto that I’d eaten half of it before I realized I should have taken a pic. I’ll get it right next time. Maybe!

The challenge with these little excursions into the danger zone is managing the recovery. There’s nothing wrong with stepping out every now & then. So long as I get back to behaving pretty promptly. String a few bad choices together & I might be in trouble.

And I won’t know how much trouble … ’til I get back to my scale.

Wish me luck!

PS … Phone post, excuse any formatting errors!