I’ve never been one of those girls that knows about calories. Or, for that matter, cares about calories. The most health conscious I have ever been is being able to hold a straight face when insisting that orange flavoured chocolate is one of your five a day, and that if you eat loads on a plane it doesn’t count because you are in the air.
Exactly.
So I was slightly horrified when my clothes started to feel a little tight at the seams, and I started to look a little, well, doughy. WTF? I’ve always eaten what I liked and the only exercise I can admit to regularly doing is walking (at speed) to the fridge. It dawned on me. I will be 30 soon. Is this what my cousins forebode when they tried to tell me that when you hit 30 you can’t metabolise one brie a day? Good Lord, it could all be coming true.
Don’t get me wrong, I had achieved my goal of eating nearly an entire cheeseboard each day between Christmas and New Year, and I had bloody enjoyed it. It’s not like I am disillusioned as to why calories are sticking to me like I am the worlds biggest magnet, when all I’ve been eating is dust. 🙂
Teamed with the fact that my sister is on a health kick and my best friend has deemed her back too fat to fit in a bridesmaids dress in the summer, I realised I had to get my shit together.
In my opinion, the people who insist exercise is fun, being sweaty is achieving something and salad is delicious, are on crack. But I’ve embraced it – I’ve been swimming, am doing exercise videos and eating like a rabbit for the past few weeks. Wine has become the enemy (but I looooooooooove you) and there is an ultimate ban on cheese, which in my opinion, is like losing a limb.
Its working.
However, the one thing that I really cannot stand, is the one thing that so many gym bunnies swear by.
The 30 Day Shred. People say that Jillian is motivational, and her shouting spurs you on. She often screams “if 400 pound people can do a jumping jack, you can too!!!!” But I am stubborn. She makes me want to face plant a carton of ice cream and chase it down with maple syrup. Which wouldn’t be a pretty sight for anyone.
So I’m adopting the Laura attitude to being a skinny Minnie – if occasionally I do eat a loaf of bread / a block of cheese /anything Jillian would disapprove of, at least ‘not eating it every day. In your face, America’s Biggest Shouter.
I’m sticking to Zumba and trying not to laugh in Yoga. That’s my jam.
What do you do to keep healthy? Any recipes that may save me from my personal salad hell?
Tinkerbelle 
Ha, the only advice I learned from Jillian was to drink water whenever you’re hungry. It makes sense, and it takes out all the “bored” calories. I have a habit of eating when I’m bored, but my sister (being 15) and her friends are doing it under hormonal pressure. The best diet I went on was to eliminate Pepsi completely out of my system. I lost so much weight from that alone. I also started walking more as soon as I went to UConn, Storrs campus. The map is like Disney world, but it’s actually smaller in scale. You can walk around the whole area for two miles. That’s given the fact that you only hit the outer area. I heard Zumba will definitely shed off the pounds. Yoga is quite amusing because it’s like Zumba for the slow and spiritually focused. As an Italian, it’s difficult to stay on a diet when homemade lasagna and other fine Italian cuisine is coming out. Hello, it’s PASTA CAKE! Who doesn’t like cake layered pasta? I wish the best of luck in all your blogging and weight loss endeavors for this year. Stay strong, stay motivated, and do yourself a favor – do this for YOU. 🙂
thanks! such a great comment. you’re right, lasagne is so delicious, and it is essentially savoury cake. 🙂 I’ve cut out bread (type 1 diabetic so really helped) plus diet coke (addicted) and I’m trying to not eat junk food. That being said, I’m not enormous, just uncomfortable in my current clothes and not happy buying the next size up!
I adopted Mark Twain’s attitude towards exercise a VERY long time ago — to paraphrase — when the urge to exercise hits me, I lay down until it passes.
Hahah I will apply this to daily life ….
Meat….loads of vegies…all types…cut out the starch…fruit when you are peckish…works like a charm…you are still young enough to shed the kilos…wait till you are in your fifties…THEN it becomes harder.
Uh, yeah, it gets harder as time goes on. I was about 30 when my waist began to expand….As you age, the balance stops, and you have to create your own. Twice as much exercise for the same amount of food.
For instance, over the holidays, the noodles have taken up residence on my inner thighs, because not only did I eat a pile of noodles, but I didn’t exercise half as much.
I don’t like exercising for the sake of exercising. I like yoga, dancing, walking, and tennis. The rest is sucky. I don’t like it, and I’m not going to do it.
I graze. I eat when I’m hungry. I limit carbs in the evening. At least four nights a week, dinner is no carb, and I actually do love salad! Maybe the trick is what you’re putting in it. When dinner includes carbs, I eat a tiny portion and fill up on other non-carb stuff like nuts, cheese, yogurt, fruit.
I’m a foodie who cooks constantly. Deprivation is not the answer.
Being one of those former super fit people and now only mortally fit; I can say that at times drinking a glass of wine amongst other things is good for you. It is about eating lots of the vegetables and fruit and eating in a proper proportion. I would just switch up the excercise. Walk one day, ride a bike, work out. Doing one thing makes you stagnate and grow bored.
You grow bored…you quit.
Hi Tinkerbubbles!!! 🙂
I’ve been on a diet for nearly three years.
I use weightwatchers meals and count the calories of everything and I’ve gone from 120Kg (Lard arse) to 105Kg (Still fat!).
I’m now winding down from the Christmas and New Year flu to eating again having lost 5Lbs (About 2.6Kg) due to sickness.
All my favourite foods are now gone for another year so I’m back to counting calories and putting up with the constant hunger the medication gives me.
One way or another I WILL be slim!!! 🙂
Veggies are nice when you can get them, but are far from filling unless you include a decent dressing which bumps up the calories!!! 😛
Needless to say I’ve eaten a full pack of mixed salad with Garlic and Herb dressing, so no surprise I didn’t lose as much weight as I was supposed to! 🙂
Dieting is a religion where you pray for less weight and thank God for losing just a little!!! 🙂
Love and squishy hugs! 🙂
Prenin.
I love a good salad so long as it’s packed with things like avocado, pomegranate and pistachios. Plus you can have small amounts of cheese to give them that yum factor x
pomegranate is such a good shout 🙂
I started running (see walking really fast while wheezing) this year. I hate exercise – anyone who says otherwise is lying!