Archive for 'dropping the pounds'
At the end March, we decided to go vegetarian. It’s something I’ve toyed with for a long time, and tried twice in the past, but never been able to stick to. Not because I miss meat though, more because I miss the no thinking involved with eating meat in your diet. I mean, it’s so much easier to eat meat. You just cook it and eat. But when you’re a vegetarian, you have to think about what meals you want, what’s in them, and how to keep up with your body’s need for iron and protein and things that you get in meat. That’s the first question people always ask me. “What about the GIRLS! They need so much iron at this age!” Well, yes. I know that. I’m a girl too you know, and I also need lots of iron. You’d be surprised at where you can find iron though, and to be perfectly honest, we’re eating SO well these days, that I am 98% positive that all of us are getting a lot more iron than we were beforehand.
So why go vegetarian? Well, there are lots of reasons, but the biggest reason is because animals are being farmed like produce, and not living, breathing, feeling creatures. We watched Food Inc, which is perhaps the most devastating documentary I’ve ever watched. It took us a month to get all the way through it, and the girls kept walking out. In the end, we stopped watching it and waited until they were in bed. It still took me a month to get up the courage to finish it. I’m very glad we did, and though I know it’s based around food in America, New Zealand really isn’t that different. We have the same ways of breeding and farming animals, and you never fully know exactly where anything you eat comes from, unless you grow it yourself. The more I talked about it, the more interested Siobhan became. Ollie and Aleeya were a little more whiny, both of them weren’t very pleased about no meat in their diets, and Ollie still buys ham and chicken for his sandwiches.
Anyway, it took us awhile to get rid of the meat in the freezer and to fully commit, and I have to admit that, I really don’t miss eating meat at all. We still drink milk and eat fish and shellfish and eggs (I only ever buy free range eggs, and yes I know some fish is also farmed and poorly, I try to make the right choices about what I’m buying), but we’ve cut out everything else. It takes a little more planning, but I’ve started to go through our cookbooks – Elsie bought me a subscription to a Healthy Foods magazine which I get once a month and there are some lovely vegetarian meals in there too, and I write on our whiteboard the meals I’m going to cook for the week, which means I don’t end up with a bunch of ingredients that I then have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing with. It’s been great. We’re eating such lovely meals now, and most of them are amazingly fast and straightforward.
Siobhan has really taken to it, she loves it and Aleeya has slowly come around too. I let her help me choose a meal and prepare it, and she’s starting to get into it too. We eat so many different things now, instead of just mince, and everyone is a lot happier. It took me about three weeks to get used to the change in diet, but now I feel great. My moods are a lot more stable, I’m losing a little weight, and all the awful digestion problems I’ve had for YEARS are going away. I feel great! It’s definitely been worth all the effort, it’s not much more expensive and best of all, we’re not giving money to the industry who thinks that keeping an animal in a stall all its life, unable to move or do anything, just so that we can eat their flesh, is an okay way to treat another living creature. I thought I’d miss chicken terribly, but I haven’t even really thought about it. And while I at first decided that on occassion we’d eat organic meat, I’ve decided against that.
I’ve never felt so relaxed and good, mentally and physcially, and I totally credit the fact that I’ve replaced meats with beans, peas, lentils and a larger variety of vegetables. Whoever says you need meat to get a balanced diet is wrong. Iron is found in a lot of different places and we’re getting loads more of it, as well as more fibre, rich proteins, omega oils and vitamins than we did before, and you can see the difference. I’m really thrilled, and I don’t plan to ever eat meat again, I really had no idea how it made me feel. I no longer feel heavy and bloated after I’ve eaten, I have a lot more energy (though at first I had much less) and my children are learning more about where their food comes from, how it’s produced, and how to make lots of new and extremely tasty meals. We’ve only had one that was a flop. Everything else we’ve tried the entire family has loved.
So I got talking tonight, like I do most nights…when I’m tired of trying to plant cyber vegetables in my facebook farm town farm, with Lori. I probably shouldn’t tell people that Lori sneaks around farm town in the middle of the night and that, perhaps, I’ve started to FARMTOWN STALKZ her. But I have! Me and my ever changing little avatar whom I change almost as often as I change my farm, run through everyone’s farms until we eventually come to Lori’s. You see, you get points for raking, or watering or..whatever else you do that I don’t actually pay any attention to, because all I’m truly interested in is levelling up so that I can BUY MOAR STUF! Incidentally, I can totally plant pumpkins now, and I’m so close to my first mansion that I can almost taste it! I know. You’re pondering our friendship and squirming uncomfortably in your seats and going “Kelly who? No..ah hahaha ha haaa…I don’t know a Kelly…”
We got talking, anyway, which is what we do, and we stand there, for hours talking to each other in a strange little cartoon setting, and sometimes gaining the ire of my husband, like last night, when Lori was actually pretending to be Matt. “WHO IS THAT?!?!” Oliver boomed over my shoulder, pointing at the little brown haired cartoon boy standing much too close to my little redhaired one. You should know, Lori planted him right behind me and it looked wonderfully naughty – if you’re into cartoons. And we laughed and laughed at my possessive husband who was appalled that I might have just spent the last hour talking to A CARTOON MAN! It was brilliant! No really.
So tonight we’re talking about weight and things and I’m trying to explain that I’ve lost all this weight, and that it’s really not a clever way to loose weight, and she’s telling me, that I should write a weightloss book. I think, people wouldn’t really like my weightloss program, but I figured, I’d write a blog post about it. I like to call it – iDiet. And basically, this is what you do. I’ll do it step by step. It’s really quite simple.
- Get up at some ridiculous hour, depending on whether it’s school holidays or not and ensure your children are both warm and fed.
- Boil jug and finish making the coffee your husband has left for you. – He does! Every morning. I’m spoiled. I know.
- Make toast. – Okay, this step is really important. Because what you have on your toast can really make or break you. Actually, I’m lying. I have two pieces of toast, and I go through stages of what I like. Usually, it’s peanut butter and sometimes, peanut butter and banana. I’m having a moment. Sometimes it’s tomato with salt and pepper…I’m totally having another moment. Sometimes it’s jam, sometimes it’s nutella, sometimes it’s Kaya. Do you know what Kaya is? Ollie introduced me to it a number of years ago. It is internet, heaven in an earthly form. It’s some sort of egg and coconut spready thing that Malaysians eat and I seriously could live on it. It’s not overly sweet either…just really quite possibly, the most perfect spread in the world. I also quite like marmalade. That’s very British of me isn’t it? Hurrah!
- Adhere yourself to your computer…and music. Hence the dietary name of iDiet.
- This is where it gets a little tricky. You see, I’m not and have never been a particularly lunchy sort of person. Oh, I should mention that sometimes I eat cereal. That’s important. I think. In particular, since I’ve had braces, I’ve had this huge love for hot weetbix with all bran. I totally douse it in boiling water, mix it up and add milk and sugar and it’s like fast porridge but without the oats. I love it. Shut up. We’re supposed to be talking about lunch. I need a new point now.
- Right, so – I have never been a particularly lunchy sort of person. And while you’re running around the house, tidying up, doing laundry, showering, and bringing in wood for the fire and that’s really -all- you’re doing, you’re not using up a whole lot of energy. So, I’m not hungry. And then, when I am hungry, my body, which is a bad evil thing and is totally against me goes “uh, food now. Hungry! NEED SWEET! NOW!!!!” And so I may eat chocolate. It’s true. I eat between 6 and 12 squares of chocolate, and sometimes one of those tiny little lunchbox chip things. And maybe a mandarin or three.
- Then, you play on your computer, you laugh a whole lot because man, you totally have some reeeeally amusing friends and you drink tea like it’s going out of fashion. I’d like to mention, my tea has sugar, but sometimes not milk. I have found that no milk in tea is actually reeeeally nice. Like REALLY! It’s delicious! But I haven’t completely trained myself out of the no milk entirely, so I drink less tea without milk than with it. And I’m drinking it with milk, wishing it didn’t have milk in it. I’d also like to state that, laughter isn’t just great medicine, it’s also a fantastic way to loose weight. It’s true! If you laugh long and hard enough, your tummy aches, have you noticed? My tummy is looking hot right now. It’s the laughter. I’m positive.
- So your day passes, and your house is tidy, and your kids are fed and entertained. By this stage, you’re doing whatever you’re doing, going to the movies, wandering through the mall, I don’t know. I had plans this holidays, and the kids both got sick, so we stayed home more than went out, which kind of sucked..but what can you do? I didn’t get sick, by the way. I KNOW! And then, eventually, your husband gets home.
- And your body is going “HEY! That sugar high we were having? Yeah well it’s over…crashing now. FEED ME!” So you cook dinner, and you eat it, and then you drink huge amounts of water, because your body is all “thirsty now. Thirsty now. Thirsty now.” Even though you’ve been drinking bucket loads of tea.
- Then you have a milo before bed, or I don’t know, whatever hot chocolatey milky drink you like. I like milo.
- Finally, sex. I’m private enough not to tell you how often – besides, I don’t want to scar family members with details…and that’s really it! That’s it! Do you want to know how much I’ve lost?
About 7kgs. That’s uh..15lbs.
Of course, I realise that this is a very short term sort of diet (with the exception of step number 11) – I have 3kgs (6lbs) to go before I’m at the weight I’ve been trying to get to for the last..oh, 10 years? Next week, once they’re back at school? I’m going for weekly walks again with my mother in law, and partaking in both a dance class, and some form of aerobic weight sort of training, because I’m lacking a lot of muscle tone. And this of course, will increase my appetite again, and I’ll be eating good things. I promise.
I was saving my news for one big post today, and now I’ve realised that was a stupid idea, because I have so much to regale you with, that I just don’t know where to start! So, it won’t be quite as packed full of excitement as I had orignally planned, and some of the reason it won’t be, is because I had one too many wines last night in joyous celebration of having survived my first week of work. Yes I did..I will most certainly drink my own weight in wine after only one week of work! You see if I don’t!
Anyway, let me see if I can recall enough details to entertain you. The first two days, I drove..because, driving is good, it’s the parking that isn’t. We ended up spending about $5 a day on parking and then driving around during my lunch break trying to find a free parking space. Which we did, but still, it was a hassle..so I decided to try the bus. We have an awesome bus system here, it picks you up just around the corner, and takes you all the way into the city, so this is good. I walk the girls to school, they see me off at the bus stop and I wait. I’m reading the sign and it tells me that the bus isn’t due for like 10 more minutes, so I decide to walk to the next bus stop. Half way there, you guessed it right? Damn thing rolls on passed me.
Anyway, another one came along and I get on it, and we drive through the University and I think about how lovely it is at this time of year, and then half way down Riccarton Road a girl gets on and she goes “You go to the city right?”
“No, not this bus..” says the driver and I have a wee panic.
“You don’t go to the city?” I ask, and he repeats to me that he doesn’t, so off I get and have to wait for another bus. It doesn’t take too long, but I end up 15 minutes late for work, which is kind of annoying, but amusing all the same. Coming home, I get the craziest bus driver in.the.world, and the craziest passenger at the front of the bus. The driver is all over the road, speeding down the freakin’ highway, and Mr Man at the front of the bus is gesticulating at the traffic and telling everyone on the bus to shut up, and get off their cellphones etc etc. I am gritting my teeth and trying to remember not to make eye contact, seriously wishing I’d brought my mp3 player so I can drown them all out.
The next day, I catch the right bus, I have my mp3 player, I make it to work on time. I really enjoy walking through the city in the morning, it’s cold and crisp and delicious..everyone is just opening the stores, the Square is just coming to life…it’s beautiful. Appaently, crazy passenger and bus driver are in cohoots. They are there again on the ride home. But I turn up my mp3 player and gaze out the window blissfully. This is alright, I give it that..but half way home, we hit the school traffic, and the bus becomes full of 11 and 12 year old kids, and all I can think is how dreadful they are, and how glad I am that my kids go to a Catholic primary school and not an intermediate! OMG! Those kids are talking about boys and cigarettes and acting like 15 year olds, not the little babies like my precious wee 11 year old..ugh! So, I turn my mp3 player up even more and stare out the window blissfully unaware of their awful grown upness.
Yesterday I took my mp3 player and a book. God, was that the best idea ever or what? So good. I caught the bus after the one I’d been taking..it rained, and walking through the city with rain and freezing wind and realising you need new shoes because your socks are suddenly soaking wet is not quite as fun as walking through the city when it is just icily cold but sunny. Anyway, apparently creepy man caught the later bus too. But, not as many 11 and 12 year olds did. I got home and the fire was still going..so I was able to stoke it up, get into my jammie bottoms and some warmer socks and heat myself up. The girls got excellent school reports, they were delicious little angels, we had a wonderful dinner, they went off to their school disco and I drank too much red wine. Such the perfect end to the week! *L*
Work itself is fun. No, that’s not true, I do not want to have to look at any more filing, ever. But at the same time, I am enjoying the mundaneness of it. I like that it requires very little thought and that I can just go, do my thing and leave it all behind me when I go home. I also love having Ollie there. He is so adorable! He looks after me and is very possessive. He will come up when it’s morning tea time and take me to the tea room, he makes sure I don’t work through my breaks, and he does the same with lunch, then reminds me it is 2.30pm and time to go home again. It is so cute that I could squish him! I have lovely conversations with most of the people there and they keep me amused when I am tucked away in the photocopy room binding endless yearly accounts.
Now it is Saturday, Ollie is at work, I am in my jammies feeling seedily like I had too much to drink last night, it’s cold and rainy and I am happy. Tomorrow I must go and buy new shoes, and maybe a pair of black pants that fit properly, and shoes for those ever growing children of mine too, and you know what? We have money with me working, so I can actually do it without stressing too badly about it.
P.S. I lost 2lbs. I KNOW! I am currently 132lbs, or 60kg. So yay. 5kgs to go.
Do you know what I’ve been doing for the past three days?
Working. That’s what. I have almost finished doing all my website updates. There are a few left, which I need some expert advice about from the man, but otherwise I am done! This has been quite the mission, I have to admit, seeing that one of the sites I had been ignoring many very little updates for almost a year! I KNOW! I found emails asking for little things like links to be added, from September last year! Hee! It is one I do for free and one that takes up a lot of time, and one that I get very little credit for though, so I’m not bothered. But I did them all, and I cleared my email box in the process. Such bliss.
What else? Aleeya was in a spelling competition yesterday. Apparently she won’t know how she did until October, which seems cruel to me, the kid is nine years old! It’s about immediate gratification when you’re nine years old. Particularly if you’re Aleeya! Or me, I like instant gratification also. She and I? Too alike for words. Anyway, I have a feeling she will have done extremely well, although she did come home going “is exceed spelled e-x-c-e-e-d or, e-x-c-e-d-e?” I told her and her wee face dropped. “I spelled it that way first and crossed it out!” she said. Don’t you hate that? “Always, always trust your first instinct!” I told her and she huffed and stomped off to get changed. Hopefully she’ll remember that next time!
Siobhan is doing so much homework lately that her brain must be about to explode. I don’t know about this extention thing anymore, she’s learning a lot..I actually think the girl might have a gift for science. How cool would that be? Anyway, she works on the computer almost all day long, every day after school. It exhausts me just watching her. Last night she made a powerpoint presentation. I felt guilty for not helping, and Ollie was whining..we watched the Biggest Loser instead. Seriously, worst parents award? Send it this way. This morning I asked her if she’d finished it, thinking, before school I could give her a few tips on how to pretty it up right? She says “yes, do you want to see it?” And I am all “of course!” So she brings it up, and internet….
It was awesome! It was so awesome I got a little teary about it. I was all “how did you do this?” And she said “these are word art, you just do this..and…” off she went explaining it. I am going “Siobhan! This is awesome! Really really great work!” and she is all “thanks!” I love that my kids so readily accept compliments. They are good little people.
Ollie’s brother arrives tonight, so today I have decided to not get dressed, seeing that all weekend and all next week, I will have to be up and dressed in case they turn up and titter about my pyjamas. How will I work out if they are secretly sneaking up on me? I hate to be caught exercising, it’s just so..self indulgent and ugly. haha! Yes I am still exercising, today my side abdominals hurt from my ribcage to my hip bone, and I’m not sure I like it. That program exhausts me in only half an hour, and I have not yet managed to do all the workouts I’m supposed to. But I feel great to be honest. I hurt every day, in some new muscle group, I take a day (okay, sometimes two) off between each workout, but it’s good. It makes me feel like I’m doing something that my body is greatful for..even if it complains and makes me whimper with agony.
Nothing fits anymore..it had me doing all this hideous cardio yesterday, and jumping. JUMPING!!!! My tracksuit pants kept falling off my arse. Those new bras I bought a few weeks back? Yeah, they don’t fit anymore. I need new clothes and the Oliver says no. He says, when I stop fading away then I can buy them. I want them now! You can’t jump with a loose bra? That isn’t cool at all! And let’s not even talk about my pj bottoms. I walk around and have to hoist them up or they’re around my ankles in minutes. Yes, I am very proud of myself, but it is quite frustrating too!
I swear, lyrics for every occasion!
So, I’m on a get fit thing. I’ve been dropping the pounds for awhile now, but you can eat less and go for a few walks and that doesn’t really do anything for your muscle definition right? So on the weekend I decide I’m going to start doing some cardio. “Make me a routine!” I say to my husband who is the most fit person in the entire world, and if you doubt me..come follow him around for a week and see what his life consists of. Let me just say, he is a FREAK! But, I love him for it. “Okay!” He replies and you know what? He didn’t.
I was so amazed that he didn’t leap all over the chance to design me something I would no doubt hate and curse him for, forever..that I asked him again. Stressing, of course, the importance of my sedentary lifestyle, my hatred of all things physical and that it’s winter, I’m a wuss and anything that involves me spending copious amounts of time outside, is a no go. I know, I’m not asking much right? You see his issues with designing me a program right? “You are NOT going to be my trainer.” I stress with greater importance than anything else..because, he is too fit, and I do not dig the whole “you can do it! you’re doing great! two more, come on!” thing, it doesn’t inspire me to do anything other than yearn for a big meat cleaving knife!
We have this playstation game. It’s called “Yourself Fitness.” He reminded me of this fact and I thought..”true!” It does an initial assessment with you, where you have to do a series of exercises, take your resting pulse, and your sped up pulse, put in your weight, how fit you already are etc etc. Internet…two minutes of jumping jacks? I.could.not.do. No, really. It was one minute and 45 seconds and I was light headed, dizzy, and barely even jumping, let alone jacking. I had to stop it! I did nine girl pushups. NINE! OH MY GOD! And I thought I would die. I did redeem myself somewhat, with 29 sit ups and 28 squats, but nine pushups? I really suck!
Anyway, that took half an hour, and there was no way I was doing the recommended HOUR workout after that. I did 15 minutes. It was HARD. I did it two days ago and I am still hurtin’. Ohmygod am I hurtin’. I hurt in places that shouldn’t exist! It was fantastic. It really was. It makes you tell it how you’re feeling that day, and how hard each section is. That was a cardio workout. Today I gave it another go. I did half an hour and it focussed on core strength. My abs are hurting already. It was really, really hard. I like it and hate it all at once. But the best thing is, I don’t have to leave, I don’t have to pay anyone any money, I don’t have to sweat in front of anyone, and it’s as simple as switching on the tv for 30 minutes.
Ollie was all “what does it recommend you do? How often do you have to work out?”
“Five days a week.” I reply, to his jaw droppingness. “Five days a week? I only have three!”
Yeah well, has he looked in the mirror lately? Some of us have forgotten we have anything on our bodies besides skin and fat. My muscles have atrophied. They are screaming and begging me not to do any more planks, or supermans, and god no with the double crunches! Jumping jacks? Don’t make my body laugh..no, seriously, don’t. No doubt laughing, while probably burning calories, will hurt too.
Posted on 5 June '08 by kelly, under dropping the pounds. No Comments.
