The Kitchen Scale

Warning: A really dull looking picture

Whenever I attempt to "get healthy" (my euphemism for losing weight) I tend to get into habits and ruts, sometimes obsessively so. Like right now I start my day with a packet of instant peaches and cream oatmeal. So far I'm still liking it. 

I think that this is what anyone who is trying to "get healthy" does. If something works once then keep doing it until you make yourself ill from the lack of variety, get mind numbingly bored with it, or it stops working. I know that this isn't necessarily healthy with food. Some people end up on diets limiting themselves to only a hand full of foods or on one of those disgusting cleanses (like the maple syrup, water, cayenne, lemon juice whatever) because they drop weight fast... and then can't maintain it so they go back on the cleanse again. And if I hear someone say it's healthy one more time I'm going to squeeze a tube of honey up their nose. And before I get to far into this, yes there are some people who have had doctors recommend cleanses and I am not talking about them. I'm talking about the people who cleanse frequently and obsessively... like an older lady I worked with who was always on a cleanse because she was in denial that she was getting close to 50 and that gravity exists. To her I would like to say, "Subsiding on water with stuff floating around that you found in the back of your cupboard for weeks can not be good for you-electrolytes must get out of whack, all of the stuff in your digestive track gets freaked out, and you aren't consuming enough calories to be able to function. You are in essence starving yourself, yet you claim to feel so good afterward. Well why don't you ask people who are starving due to poverty if they feel all clean and energized or if they would rather have a club sandwich and see which one they pick." (Hint: It will be the one with bacon.) 

Anyway, to get away from that particular rant I'll try to get to the point. Severely limiting what you eat will not help you get healthy (both with and without quotation marks) for the long term. Once you stop your cabbage diet you will gain weight back, and if you only eat a few things then you will most likely be lacking nutrients. I find that what works best for me is to stick with an arsenal of basics for the day to day diet. I have my staples that I can easily turn to without having to put a lot of thought into it- grilled shrimp tacos, vegetable stew and dumplings, rice and stir fry, my lovely instant oatmeal, etc. Well I found a new one, and by God the picture of it looks so boring! (And judging by the picture alone you might think I'm a dirty water cleanse type of person who thinks grazing can pass for a meal, which I think I've made clear I'm not.)

It's actually lettuce wraps. And they are a revelation and a model of simplicity. You in no way need a recipe for the the lettuce wraps, but with the risk of being condescending I'll just tell you what I use: 5-8 big leaves of lettuce, 1 T hummus, 2 T babaganoush (you can even see a little dab of it peeking out from one of the lettuce wraps), and 2.5 oz of boar's head turkey breast. But the options are endless- chicken or tuna salad, ham and cheese with a spicy mustard, roast beef with thousand island dressing or cocktail sauce, sauteed mushrooms, peppers and onions, grilled shrimp... really whatever you want. And the ability and option to change it up is why it is something I know I will be turning to time and time again. It's a basic concept that I can manipulate to be what I want, so hopefully I won't get bored. 

Day 5 The End and the Woes of Arm Fat

Today has been a frustrating day and because of it I shall not post what I ate today. I did better than yesterday, much better. But this attempt to use shame as a weight loss tool is clearly flawed. I feel almost idiotic to have even proposed it as it is wrong on so many levels. My thought was that since shame works in other areas of my life like cleaning and the extremely proper tone of my writing (in real life I swear more and engage in an extremely sarcastic tone which doesn't translate well into print, something that I find extremely unfortunate) I thought it would work here. But this time the process through which I am trying to shame myself has proved to be a pain and an annoyance. Enough things in this world fall into both categories so while this was interesting I am ending it here. I will be back to blog about more interesting things later. At least that is the hope. But I will no longer post everything I eat because it's just too much of an inconvenience at the present to take a picture of everything I eat.

Even as I write this I see so many things I need to work on and so many things that everyone needs to work on. For instance, this summer I am working retail and older women come into my store all the time looking for something for an event (most frequently weddings in some really hot state like Arizona). But there is one very key condition, the garment must have some sort of sleeve. No tank tops will do for these ladies. They must- at least- have a three quarter sleeve. Does anything seem crazier? Arizona. In the summer. With sleeves! Why? Its too bloody hot for sleeves. Even here in the anti Arizona (climate wise, I'm sure the people are quite nice) sleeves don't seem to be all that necessary. So why go to a wedding and be uncomfortable? Because of arm fat. (Honestly I have had a woman yell at me through the dressing room door that she didn't like a top because of her arm fat. If it's such a big deal to you and you are so embarrassed about it, then why yell about it to someone you don't know in a crowded store?) Now, the arm fat I am referring to is that cruel wobbly bit underneath your arm that wiggles so gracefully in the wind. I am all too familiar with this culprit.

I, being a very smart and somewhat outspoken child, pointed out to my mom that during the course of some routine activity (I have my money on cleaning) that her arm wibble wobbled. Yes, wibble not wiggle. I told you I was young). We talked about that the other night years after the incident took place, and apparently I gave her some sort of complex. But why? I loved the wibble wobbles, they were fun to look at and prod with the innocence masked curiosity only a child can get away with. What's wrong with a bit of wibble wobble when you wave? Girls my age have it. Even the skinny ones! (Well not the grossly skinny ones or the super athletic ones where nothing wiggles nor wobbles.)

Now, I'm not saying that people need to fix their arm fat, or those bits that wiggle and/or wobble. I am saying that people shouldn't be ashamed of it, at least not at the cost of a wool cardigan in an Arizona summer. It's not worth it.

Now, I know that that is easier to say than it is to do. Trust me. As someone who has 100 plus pounds to lose I am all too familiar with the concept that my chubby arms my soon become "normal" arms encased in saggy bat wing like folds of excess well... you get the idea. And perhaps if I find that to be the case I will wear sleeves or get some sort of procedure. But honestly ladies, as someone who has dug the last of the spring cardigans out of the sale area so you can cover your arm fat I have to tell you something. Unless you go about waving madly and yelling, "Look at my arm fat!" no one is going to notice, and even then they probably won't care. They'll just wave back and yell, "Me too!"

Day Four Failure

My dear dedicated readers (again, Hi Mom!) I have failed you, all five of you (this may be time for a role call). I did not take pictures of my food today. Why? Because the day started badly and I couldn't stand the shame/embarrassment/ heckling/ shocked gasps of "Oh Dear Lord is that possible?!". I thought I would just pretend today didn't happen, that my resolve did not crumble on the fourth day of my recommitment. But it did. And yes, tomorrow is another day and blah blah blah. (Seriously, I get it. I'm so sick of that being regurgitated back by people thinking these words have some sort of magical effect. Sure they did the first time you have a regrettable day of overindulgence, but this happens more than once and after your thirteenth time surveying what you ate at the end of the day and groaning you pretty much know this concept. I am not wallowing in a pit of despair. I eff'd up. I'll try again. I don't need someone else to tell me that. Sorry for the rant. This is why I don't participate in WW message boards that much anymore. They're great, but I've heard it.)

Anyway, you are probably wondering what I'm doing here. Well, I find it necessary to confess my caloric trespasses. Forgive me food father, for I have sinned. I started the day early. So very early. Silly work demanded that I be at work at *gasp* 8:30. I know that is not really early, but I beg you to keep in mind I am a college student and an insomniac. Anyway, I got to work a bit early and thought that I would get a little breakfast along with my iced tea since I wouldn't eat until sometime after 1 at the earliest. So I grabbed a reduced fat cinnamon swirl coffee cake from Starbucks. It was so sweet, I think cotton candy isn't as sweet as this sticky confection. I ate about 2/3s of it and then gave it away.

So after work and Pilates I went to go buy some chocolates for gifts. Well, I forgot that they will give you samples and who am I to turn down a paprika spiced chocolate covered macadamia nut?  As long as I have breath in my body I will have the occasional amazing  chocolate! And while I was there I got two chocolates for me to enjoy later.

Once I stepped foot into my muggy and warm apartment I knew I wouldn't be cooking. I wanted something spicy, I wanted Thai! So I got some amazing Thai food, green curry to be exact. It was amazing. This place serves their curry more like a stir fry with some sauce. It's not as soupy and as far as I can tell little to no coconut milk. So basically I like to pretend its healthier. I like this imaginary world.

And then there was the snack pack sized bag of crisps. I could still salvage my day. I could enjoy some veggies and fruit, but no. That was logical and I just wanted to enjoy my day. So I had Focaccia. A whole lot of Focaccia. 

So, do I regret my day? No. I enjoyed every little bit of it. I'm not perfect. I've been doing well and I will continue to do well. I'm still on the wagon, just in the cheap seats that dangle off the back. It will take more than a few bumps to get me off the wagon this time.

I just hope that tomorrow will go better. I have a lunch planned. And I will enjoy that and eat what I want. I just need to balance it out with the rest of my day. And with that my friends, I ask you- What did you eat today?

Day Three

It was wayyyyy too hot to cook, so I went by Trader Joes and I have to say I was happy with what I got. Yeah, the burrito isn't what I'm used to (I'm originally from a state that borders Mexico so I'm used to gooood Mexican). But the Vietnamese chicken wrap was perfect! I really suggest it. The herbs and the dipping sauce is so great and summery!

From top to bottom there is the Vietnamese Chicken Wrap from Trader Joes, a bean and cheese burrito from Trader Joes (not spectacular, but not bad), grapes, a hummus and veggie plate, and soy ice cream (obviously I am not eating a whole container a night... I just wanted to clarify).

Day Two

Well, it was hot here today. Despite the air conditioning it was too hot to really cook. Which I think will help me in the long run. Not because I will eat less (at least not all the time), but because I turn to fruits and vegetables. Also, you may notice that one of the pictures is the same as yesterday, thats because I had it again today. And, you may see some foods twice, thats because I ate it twice. Very logical if you ask me. That and I'm trying to make you think you're going insane. Enjoy!

I feel bad that I didn't include captions with my last post, so here you go. First off we have a blurry hot sauce laced hummus with corn tortillas, cucumbers and carrots. Then we have some popcorn, grapes, and a sliced plum. Blurry hummus plate again. Followed by a Thai green curry inspired stuffed bell pepper which is definitely nothing to blog about. And I ended my evening with a diet root beer vegan float!

Day One

So here is my attempt for today's photos, I am going to apologize now for the bad formatting. I am not creative enough at the present to come up with something better. Also, I don't know what happened to the quality of some of the pictures... they are very grainy and I'll try to work that out.

 

 

 

Thunk!

Well dear Reader(s) (I don't know how many of you there are, but I know for sure my mom is reading this. Hi Mom!), sometimes it hurts when you fall off the wagon. And I definitely slid off the diet/weight loss wagon the past few weeks. Some days I'm OK and other days its just bad news. So I am going to try something. I'm not going to divulge my points for the day. But I will take pictures of everything I eat and post it on the blog starting now and lasting until Friday. Shame and guilt has worked well for me in the past, we'll see if it will work again.