Happy birthday to me! I turned 43 a few days ago, which means I’m close to my healthaversary or whatever we health bloggers call the date we started doing what we’re doing. In my case, it was three weeks after my 40th birthday.
I’ve been hanging out at this liminal point weight-wise for quite a while. Part of me would like to be “done” and on maintenance (scare quotes around done because are we every done?), but part of me thinks that’s an insult to the person I was, and there was nothing wrong with her, or with who I am now, for that matter. I don’t expect an easy resolution here!
What I’m focusing on instead are attitudes and behaviors I want to try to be happier and more satisfied with my life. So, for my birthday, I’m trying out yoga.
I’ve been feeling anxious and irritated, and using food to try to medicate those feelings away. I was trying to use regular exercise (elliptical, walk/jogs, classes) to help mitigate those feelings, but that exercise was feeling mechanical, something to get through. Music was something to motivate me to move faster and to distract me from what I was doing with my body.
All well and good, and I’m sure it was good for me, but it wasn’t doing anything for my irritation and my cravings. I decided to try yoga. My understanding was that yoga wouldn’t do much for calorie burning, but my goal was to quiet the mind, not burn the fat.
I’ve tried three classes so far, and I’m shocked–I think it’s helping in quelling the cravings. I’m a total skeptic when it comes to what I consider woo woo stuff, and yoga is the ultimate in woo woo in my book.
But yesterday, there was a chocolate cake in the office kitchen. I was very hungry, as I was eating lunch late. Instead of eating the cake, I really wanted to eat my lunch (my kabocha lentil tagine-yum!). I told myself after I ate that, if there was something left I could think about it then. Sure enough, there was one piece left when I returned to wash my bowl. I passed it by. It was still there later, and I still didn’t go for it.
I have NEVER passed up on cake in my entire life. I was the kid who swiped frosting flowers off of my sister’s birthday cake before we sang happy birthday. It wasn’t hard; it just wasn’t what I wanted. The power of yoga, or new mental perspective? I don’t know.
The other thing I’m trying is a pressure cooker! My DH got it for me for my bday. It’s sitting on my counter, all shiny with its sticker still on it. I’m so excited! I’m reading all these cookbooks to figure it out.
I ordered two pressure cooker cookbooks from Barnes and Noble, which I’ve grown to like better than Amazon. The prices are close, same free shipping after $25, but it’s FAST-I got my books the next day, whereas Amazon takes a week just to ship my stuff. Well, one of them. The other one, mysteriously, was a book about Hawaii. Is Barnes and Noble trying to tell me something?
So I’ll try something in my new cooker soon… gulp!
What new things are you trying?
Jenn
July 16, 2010 at 8:51 am
Hello! I am putting together a guest blogger series and would love it if you would participate. Posts will be about weight loss success stories! You have been an inpiration and I think you could inspire my readers as well!
Details on my blog:
http://bridgetownbabymomma.blogspot.com/2010/07/do-you-have-weight-loss-success-story.html
Jenn
babs
July 18, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Happy birthday! And congrats on passing up the cake! Funny how sometimes that’s easy to do, and sometimes it’s like we’re being physically drawn in. Have fun with your pressure cooker — I hear the new ones are better engineered than the ones we grew up with. I’d always race through my mother’s kitchen when she had hers going, hissing and sputtering — I was sure it was gonna blow any second! I’ve been in a bit of a cooking rut these days, need to do some exploring. Food boredom leads to poor choices, I’ve found. Though I am indulging in the local crop of blueberries, and that makes me happy. Oh, something new — never thought much of zucchini, but turns out that’s just b/c I’ve always steamed it — turns to mush too easily. Yesterday I sauteed it in a bit of olive oil with onions and tomatoes, fresh herbs from the garden (including basil, which I’ve never been able to grow, so yay!). Added tofu cubes and served over brown rice — simple hearty food but oh so yummy! I think it was the basil that did the trick. ; )
Have a great week!
~babs