Maintenance is stressful and carefree
all at the same time.
Because when you get there, you're 100%
equipped with the tools you need to maintain this lifestyle. But
then you have those moments where you see that bag of potato chips
and you tell yourself that you could eat that whole bag and be just
fine. You eat a chip or two. You play with the bag, folding and
unfolding the shiny, yellow plastic. And you have to make a choice.
I had an interaction recently that
partially hurt my feelings while at the same time gave me the
strength to know that no, I can't have that bag of chips. To
paraphrase and not throw the other person in the situation into the
fire, I'll just say that I was asked if I wouldn't overindulge in a
particular food because I was afraid of gaining weight. “Look at
you!” You can splurge.
The influence of others doesn't go away
when you meet goal.
That brings us back to the concept that
started this blog. Eating for one. Cooking for one. Cooking
whatever the hell I want without anyone else's agenda or desires
influencing me to make poor choices. Not having someone else buying
potato chips and ice cream and flooding my kitchen with them.
I had a lot of time to think about the
question posed in the scenario above and the easiest answer to the
question, “What, are you afraid to gain weight” is yes. Yes.
Yes I am. And it isn't that my body isn't nourished. I eat all of
my calories, I get plenty of nutrients. But I don't have the stomach
space to indulge anymore. If I eat more than 2 pieces of pizza, it
physically hurts. Sometimes I even make a low calorie meal with tons
of veggies and find myself leaving food on my plate because it just
won't fit. That's what happens when you lose weight. My days of
pounding down a whole large pizza by myself are gone. I eat ice
cream out of a tea cup.
When I do push, when I push past
satisfied into full and into stuffed, I find myself doing it multiple
times a day. I tend to be psychologically confused by stomach pain.
I try to fix it with food. Stress eating could be a result of this
phenomenon. My stomach hurts, so I must be hungry. I eat, I
overeat, my stomach hurts... therefore, I must be hungry. And I eat
more.
That's when you have to make things
better tomorrow. And try not to do it again.
I brag about him a lot, but my handsome
gentleman is about the only person that I can eat with that doesn't
pressure me to eat what is bad for me. Don't get me wrong, I don't
have people lined up behind me yelling at me constantly to eat bad
things... but he's always up for a well-balanced meal. He'll eat a
salad at a restaurant. He keeps his potato chips in a cabinet
instead of on the counter. I'm always so thankful for that.
We ate some pretty good food recently
and I'm sorry that I don't have any pictures of it. I try not to
take pictures of dinner when I'm cooking in his kitchen because I
don't want to look insane... try not to look insane in front of the
boyfriend...
But I love trying out different flavors
with the same food items and dinner Friday night was quite tasty.
An aside here: How do you feel about
food that was a staple of your family table as you were growing up?
The reason I bring this up is every time I make pork I remember the
fact that Pork Fried Rice used to be the only pork I would consume.
And every time I make a pork tenderloin, marinaded in soy sauce,
olive oil and honey, or rubbed with a bbq rub, pan seared then baked,
I remember my grandma's pork chops. And though I love(d) my grandma
very much, as well as her macaroni and cheese, her mashed potatoes,
her cheesecake... I hated her pork.
So Friday night I did the pork
tenderloin, a little over a pound, rubbed with bbq rub, pan seared
for about 5 minutes on each side, and since I was making roasted red
potatoes I had the oven already set on 400. I usually cook my pork
tenderloin for about 35 minutes on 325-350. It always comes out
good. But since the oven was already at 400, I just cut the time and
left it in for 25 minutes.
Oh. Em. Gee. It was tender and as
close to perfect as you could ask for. I had to cook the larger side
for another 5 minutes (I usually cut it in half to better fit in my
boyfriend's bachelor pad bakeware.
I made brussel sprouts as well (you
know, since he likes those too) and this time I thought I'd go a
little crazy. I melted two tabs of butter in the bottom of a pot,
threw in my brussel sprouts which I had halved and peeled off the
outer loose leaves, and added about 1 Tbsp of brown sugar. Stir,
stir and stir. Cover. To me, brussel sprouts just like asparagus
are finished when they turn bright green. They were so good. I
moaned out loud when I put one in my mouth. I said, “I wish I
could date me...”
So now for the food that I did take a
picture of!!! Speaking of pictures of food, this November's issue of
Cooking Light is delightful for a food voyeur like myself. And it's
NOT full of Thanksgiving food. YUM!
Tonight I made Chicken Parm that was
less than 400 calories (393 to be more exact, but you can lower that
by using less cheese). The key ingredient was spaghetti squash, of
course. I'm pretty addicted to that now.
I used the following:
2 pieces of Perdue Simply Smart breaded
chicken tenders (try to get as close to 1 serving as possible, which
is 3 oz. I used 3.8 oz to get my stats).
1 cup cooked spaghetti squash
½ c. Ragu sauce (use any kind you'd
like, tonight I used the Roasted Red Pepper & Onion)
¼ c. 2% milk shredded cheese
Cook the chicken according to package
directions, which involves an oven at 425 degrees. In a small
casserole dish, combine your spaghetti squash and sauce, mixing the
two together. Top with cheese and place it in the oven next to the
chicken when there's 10 minutes left on the timer.
I have these super little casserole dishes that are the perfect size for a single-serve casserole like
this.
Once the chicken is cooked and crispy,
cut into bite sized pieces and put on a plate. Top with the contents
of your casserole dish, being careful to put it on the plate cheese
side up.
This was a ton of food. I almost
didn't finish this. And it was so good. The breading on those
chicken fingers is pretty fabulous.
In running news... last week I beat my
fastest 5k time by a few seconds. Today, I beat that time by 1:42.
I just felt really good and it was coming so easily. I found myself
looking up at the blue sky, littered with clouds, just running along,
enjoying the wind (despite the fact that I had to run into it) and
enjoying the updated playlist. My second mile was 9:42 which is a
record mile for me.
I'm going to be running a 5k next
Sunday, which I'm excited about. I have two goals. The first is to
not stop running. I know that's completely doable because I set that
goal for my first 5k and succeeded. My second goal is to finish
faster than the last 5k, which was 33:20. I'm hoping a combination
of more practice and having people to compete against (it feels good
to pass people) will help me achieve that second goal. It's the
first one that is the most important. Need to remember to pace
myself. This race starts at a high school track and goes through the
trails of a park, so I'm looking forward to the scenery.
I'm trying to reincorporate strength
training between my running days. Maybe that's giving me a little
more umph too.
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