Monday, December 9, 2013

Clearly the cold weather means hibernation mode right?

you take my covers, you die
So I don't know about where you are, but this has been a FREAKING cold winter.  I know that all my East coast friends and family would be wearing a t-shirt and shorts in this temperature range, but I'm a Californian and it should NOT be below 40 degrees in the Bay Area.  I totally blame the cold weather for my lack of motivation to work out and lose weight.  It doesn't help that all I want to do is cuddle under the covers like my cat and eat really warm carby food.  I would think that it being this cold would make me want to run in place just to be warm, but I literally feel frozen and everything is sore from shivering and holding myself as still as possible. 

So I will do my best to avoid the alluring steam coming off the mashed potatoes and warm bread and decide to eat soups with lots of vegetables.  Also I'm going to try and stay away from hot chocolate and switch to herbal teas instead.  I think if I can keep my insides warm, then my outsides will become more motivated.

So here's to keeping warm and keeping the SAD away.  Though I have a confession, the cold weather makes it really feel like Christmas.  :)


Monday, December 2, 2013

So I dodged the turkey, but not the cake

Okay so I didn't stick to any of my goals last week, but I think I made some good last minute adjustments. 

1) Get a smaller plate if possible.
So that didn't happen, but instead I followed the Healthy Eating Plate model as best I could.  It helps that my cousin made a bitching spinach and berry salad that I didn't need to put any dressing on.  The berries were sweet and juicy and amazing on their own.  I had respectable amounts of turkey, the one downside was it was dry and there was no cranberry sauce (my favorite!) so I HAD to have gravy.  I was forced really.  But I didn't have a lot.  The other quarter of my plate was pasta and bread, sad to say there were no whole grain options.  Next time I'll bring some whole grain options to the table!

2) Don't have second helpings.
So totally failed.  But I made sure to heap on that salad 'cause it was DELICIOUS!   And I still took some home.  Best intentions.

3) Stop when full.
This I did do.  I did not get the feeling of about to burst open Henry the Eight style.  I was full, but not overly full.  I think it also helped that I didn't fast before the big meal.  I find that when I don't eat anything and then I'm really hungry, I eat a lot more because my body is in starvation mode.

So one out of the three isn't bad.  Besides it just isn't fair that I had TWO Thanksgivings, one for each side, back to back.  I know for a fact I was worse at my Asian side, because rice is like ninja calories.  You don't realize how much you've consumed until you put it into fitnesspal and you look like this guy:
Also you metabolize Asian food HELLA fast!  The joke is you eat Asian food and an hour later you're hungry.  IT'S TRUE!!!!  So I tend to pig out more when I'm with the Asian side, simply because 1) there is so much good food that is my favorite that I hardly get to eat and 2) I don't get full and stay full like I do on Western food.

Let's also be real, the true culprit of the four pound weight gain this week was the desserts.  Why did there have to be chocolate cake???!!!!  My will was already weakened by the tantalizing smells of turkey and potatoes, but add apple pie (which I STILL haven't had yet :( ) and / or cake.  It's over. 

Well it is time to hit the gym to work it off and prepare for Christmas and the deluge of cookies I'm bound to get from my students.  It would be rude not to eat them ...

In all seriousness, I am quite proud of how I handled the gluttony of Thanksgiving and I am going to get right back on the good train.  I had a salad for lunch when I could have had fries.  The four pound weight gain is still six pounds lost all these weeks later, and I'm feeling great!  It's all about the small steps adding up to one huge pay off!