Fat Girl Learns To Run

Last Day ---------- Day 131

Well, today's the last day of 2009.  I look forward to what the New Year brings.  Happy New Year everyone!!!

Anyone Can Cook ---------- Day 130

I just finished watching the movie Ratatouille on TV.  It was a really cute, feel-good movie.  The on-going theme in the movie was ‘Anyone can cook’.  In the movie it just happened to be a rat who was the cook.  After watching the movie, I started thinking about cooking (that was a stretch).  There are people who just love to cook and then there are people who are overwhelmed when it comes to cooking.  I think the key to cooking is to cook at the level that is comfortable for you.  Not many of us are at the Julie Child level of cooking but that shouldn’t stop someone from cooking.  Using some good quality ingredients and preparing those ingredients in a simple way with some seasonings is something that most of can do.

My philosophy on cooking is that I know the food that I am capable of cooking at home and the food that I am not comfortable cooking is the food that I would order at a restaurant.  One of the foods that I order in a restaurant is sushi.  My son and I did once prepare sushi at home and it was very good.  The only problem is that it was very time consuming.  I just don’t have that amount of time to prepare sushi.  Preparing sushi is a dish that I like to leave to the experts.  On the other hand, I wouldn’t order crepes at a restaurant.  I use a basic crepe recipe that I actually received from Gale Gand except that I use wheat flour instead of white flour.  Using my crepe pan, I can made crepes with the best of them (its all in the wrist action). 

Over the Christmas holidays I was hosting a dinner and couldn’t decide on dessert.  I didn’t want to spend much time making dessert and didn’t want to buy a dessert.  Then the idea of making crepes for dessert popped into my head.  I made the crepes earlier in the day along with a chocolate sauce and then assembled them just before serving them.  To prepare the crepe, I first spread sauce down the middle of the crepe.  The sauce consisted of yogurt with a little agave and some banana liquor.  On top of the filling, sliced bananas were placed.  The crepe was then folded and then some chocolate sauce was place on top of the crepe.  Then to guild the lily, some whipped cream was placed on the chocolate sauce. 

Sometimes you just need to use your imagination to put together ingredients you are familiar with in a new way.  Just remember, Anyone can cook.

Centers ---------- Day 129

When my son was young, he used to watch video tapes of Barney.  I must admit that Barney was a good babysitting when you needed someone else to entertain your child.  In case you don’t know who Barney is, he is a purple dinosaur (well actually a person in a dinosaur costume) in a children’s TV show.  The one thing that I distinctly remember about the show is the concept of centers.  Barney would tell the children who were in a classroom setting that there were different centers in the classroom.  There was a center for drawing, a center for reading, a center for music, etc.  The concept of centers was a way to identify a place with an activity.

I remember using this concept in my son’s bedroom to define which areas were to be used for different activities.  I have also used this concept of centers but in a different way.  When I have several things that I need to get done, I found that if I focus my attention only on a few things at a time, I make more progress.  I was home today and decided to focus on basically one activity.  That activity was to get out of the house and focus on catching up with people.  Since I was out most of today, tomorrow I can focus on doing things in my house.

For me focusing or centering on similar activities just works better for me.  Who knew that a purple dinosaur could provide me with a different way of looking at accomplishing things.

 

 

Food Triggers ---------- Day 128

About seven years ago we selected a cat from an animal shelter as a pet.  We were told that the cat was between two and three years old.  The owners of the cat added a dog to their household and the cat did not get along with the dog so the cat was placed in the shelter.  The good thing for the cat was that we adopted her after only a few days in the shelter.  Knowing some of the cat’s background, I was hoping the cat wouldn’t act psycho once we brought her into our house.  Luckily for us the cat was well-behaved and a very affectionate cat who loves being around people.

We decided to give the cat dry cat food and once in awhile give her some canned cat food.  As time went on, I noticed an interesting behavior the cat demonstrated on certain occasions.  When I would open a can using our electric can opener, the cat would run to the kitchen, meow, stand on her back legs and beg to give her what was in the can.  My guess is that in the cat’s previous home when she heard the sound of a can opener that meant that they were opening up a can of cat food for her.  What I realized was that for the cat, her food trigger was the sound of a can opener.

I think that we all have some kind of food triggers.  It might be the smell of baked goods from a bakery that makes us stop in and buy a pastry.  If we are feeling depressed we might open that pint of ice cream, grab a spoon and eat straight from the carton to enjoy the mouth feel that we get from eating some creamy ice cream.  When we go to the movie theater, we might immediately stop by the counter and get a large popcorn and soda to enjoy during the movie because we have always had popcorn at the movie theater.

Sometimes we aren’t even hungry but then the smell of a certain food or the look of a certain food all of a sudden makes us hungry and we want that food.  When I was working at one of my early jobs, l would stop at the little stand in the office building that I worked in and would buy a chocolate covered donut every morning before taking the elevator up to my office.  That donut looked so good and smelled so fresh that I just had to have one every day.  Buying a donut was part of my morning ritual.  I did it without even thinking if I was hungry or not.  Eventually I decided that I needed to lose some weight and the first that was eliminated was that morning donut.  So I wouldn’t be tempted to buy a donut, I would avoid walking past the stand in the mornings.

At another job, I would go to the specialty coffee shop on the main floor of the building and have one of those creamy coffee drinks during the afternoon as a pick-me-up.  I think I tried every flavor that was offered in the shop.  I even had one of those cards that you get punched every time you purchase a drink and after a certain amount of drinks, you get one free.  If the coffee shop was across the street, I wouldn’t have had that coffee drink; but the location of the shop was so convenient for me.  Those drinks were so good that I didn’t even think about the amount of calories that I was consuming.  No wonder I was always struggling with my weight.

Thankfully, at my current job there isn’t a coffee shop in the building to tempt me.  There is a coffee shop across the street but that is too much effort for me especially during the Chicago winter unless I really need a coffee fix.

If we would all eat just when we are hungry and only until we started to feel full, there would be less overweight people.  This is difficult to do with all the food temptations that are out there.  What is your food trigger?

The Seven Deadly Sins ---------- Day 127

The Seven Deadly Sins is a classification of some of the most objectionable vices.  Today I was thinking about these vices.  If you are not familiar with these sins, they are wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony. You probably have committed some of these sins. I know that I am guilty of some of these sins.  Let’s take a closer look at these sins. 

Lust – is usually thought of as excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature.   Giving in to lusts can lead to sexual transgressions. In the news lately there has been this well-known golfer who has been associated with this deadly sin.  Virtue - Chastity

Gluttony – is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste.  This is definitely a sin that I have committed (refer back to my posts about cake).  Thomas Aquinas, who was a medieval church leader, prepared a list of six ways to commit gluttony (six ways – who knew) which include: eating too soon, eating too expensively, eating too much, eating too eagerly, eating to daintily, and eating wildly. Virtue - Temperance

Greed – like lust and gluttony is considered a sin of excess.  Greed is applied to a very excessive desire of wealth, status and power.  It is largely associated with material goods.  Who can ever forget the line in the movie Wall Street, “Greed is good.”  Well, greed isn’t good.  If it wasn’t for greed, our economy wouldn’t be in the shape that it is in today.  Virtue - Charity

Sloth – is often considered less serious than the other sins.  It is more a sin of omission than of commission.  It can be regarded as laziness and indifference or the failure to utilize one’s talents.  When I chose to avoid exercise and just watch TV, I think of myself as being guilty of sloth.  Virtue - Diligence

Wrath – is also known as anger or rage.  It can be described as uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger.  Wrath is the only sin not necessarily associated with selfishness or self-interest.  In the extreme wrath can lead to murder.  Virtue - Patience 

Envy – is resenting another person because they have something that you are lacking and wish the other person to be deprived of it.  Aquinas, who I mentioned before, describes envy as “sorrow for another’s good”.  Virtue - Kindness

Pride – is considered the most serious of the seven deadly sins and indeed the ultimate source from which the other arise.  It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, failing to acknowledge the good work of others and excessive love of self.  The best-known example, the story of Lucifer, pride (his desire to compete with God) was what caused his fall from Heaven and his resultant transformation into Satan.  Virtue – Humility

For myself, not committing any of these sins makes for a better life.  If I think of the issues that I am dealing with, I can trace them back to one of the seven deadly sins.  I could go on and on about the affects of each of these sins but I have to end my post today.  I do think that my post today gives you something to think about.

The Party's Over ---------- Day 126

The Christmas holidays are finally over.  I have been celebrating with friends and family for the past 4 days.  A big part of these celebrations was eating food.  I tried to do my best in portion control but I definitely ate more than I usually do and also had food that I haven’t had for awhile.  I am really looking forward tomorrow to just being at home all day and resuming my normal eating and exercise routine.

The good thing about hosting a dinner party at my house is that there are leftovers.  If I go through the effort of cooking (which is time consuming if you are cooking from scratch), I try to cook more than will be consumed so I will have meals for another dinner.  I don’t think that I am going to have to cook for the rest of the year.  Entertaining is exhausting so I look forward to a good night’s sleep.

Merry Christmas ---------- Day 125

Happy Holidays Everyone!!! No post today.

Does it really matter? ---------- Day 124

A few weeks back there was something in my household that just set me off.  During my rampage, my son said, “Does it really matter?”  I thought about that for awhile and realized that it really didn’t matter.  Since that incident when I am about to get upset about something, I ask myself the question, “Does it really matter?”  Most of the time I answer myself with a resounding, “No.”   I have realized that if I would get upset about an incident, it really won’t change anything except elevate my blood pressure.  By taking this attitude about things, I have found myself to be calmer.  For me, being calmer helps be focus better on my of getting fit.

 

Two Bites ----------- Day 123

Tonight we had a holiday family get together.  This side of the family has not gotten together in a household setting for a really long time.  In the family gathering tonight there were two new babies which was the reason for all of us to get together.  There was dinner at the house and also dessert.  Since I am watching what I eat, I only had two bites of one of the pies.  Now this is a pie (from a well-known pie place that does a big business selling pies during the holidays) that in the past I have been known to eat a half of a pie in one sitting.  Tonight after just two bites and honestly I only had two bites of the pie, I had such a head rush/headache after eating the pie.

I realized that this pie must have so much sugar in it to affect me like this.  Another reason might be the low quality of ingredients that were probably in the pie.  Logic tells me that if you eat products that are made from good ingredients, your body shouldn’t feel sick after you eat the product unless you eat too much of the product.  It is really amazing how your body reacts if you eat something that has been absent in your diet.  All I know is that I am never eating this pie again.

As I was ready to publish this post, I realized that I have started counting backwards on the days of my journey.  I am back on track today.

 

Give It All You've Got ---------- Day 120

In one of the books that I am reading, the author writes in one of the chapters, “If you’re going to master the task before you, you have to give it everything you’ve got.”  For some reason this chapter really hit home for me.  Being a Gemini, I like to start things but after awhile I get bored and move on to something else.  When I think back on the projects that I started but didn’t finish, I realized that I didn’t give the projects everything that I had; I’m always getting sidetracked by something.

I am now on Day 122 (which is about a 1/3 of the way) of my journey and I should have lost more weight by now and should be able to run a greater distance than I currently run.  If I am honest with myself, I have to say that I haven’t put in the effort into my journey that I should have.  If I keep at the pace I am currently at, I am not going to reach my goals.  All this is going to change starting tomorrow.  I have the next five days off of work so it is a perfect time to renew my commitment to my goals.