On Tuesday Sarah came over as planned and took over my kitchen (how lovely does that sound? To have a red seal chef come take over your kitchen?). What I really appreciated was that she asked me a few questions the day before about what I could eat. Then, while preparing the meal she would ask questions to make sure that I was alright with what she was putting into the meal. For instance she asked if it was okay if she used olive oil instead of cooking spray. She also cut out ingredients altogether and adapted the recipe to make it work without the unhealthy cream in it and so on.
I'm not exactly sure of all the ingredients, but I do know that she cooked cubed turkey, asparagus, red pepper, onion, minced garlic, fresh basil, white wine and goat cheese. Then she served it on whole wheat noodles. I think she said that normally she would also add cream and prosciutto but she cut them out for me since they're not exactly the best additions when you're counting calories. I didn't feel like I was missing anything though! It was a fantastic meal!
White wine and served with whole wheat bow ties. (because they're the classier noodle in the noodle family obviously!) The meal was very filling and so good!
Afterwards we decided to watch some Christmas movies. I don't really own any so she brought over National Lampoons Christmas Vacation, and some of the Santa Clause movies. We popped in Christmas Vacation because I haven't seen it in years!
The opening sequence and opening song is the best :D
Partway through the movies we decided that we had to make the Christmas movies a little merrier with a Christmas Martini! Sarah found one on Pinterest that she wanted to make (recipe is on my Pinterest recipe board). So we whipped up a few Candy Cane Martinis. You're supposed to add peppermint candies to it, but I didn't have any. We just rimmed the glass with crushed peppermints that we bought.
 |
| I'm terrible at rimming the glasses! |
I didn't count the calories before hand, and I kind of wish I did. Each martini had over 3 oz of liquor in it, which is pretty hefty in the calorie department. I think next time I will stick to light beer! (However they're very tasty and pack a punch!)
It was really great to have some company two nights in a row considering that Dan was gone both nights. It was especially nice to kick back and not worry about making supper and to just chat!
I want to address a question that I've gotten a few times. A few readers are wondering how to get into running. My advice has always to been to just check out C25K and to try it, if it's too tough, then to try a "pre" c25k program or a walking program. However, one person wanted to know how I went from barely being able to grocery shop to running 4-5 km 3 times a week.
Let me give you my running history! When I was 335lbs, there was NO way that I was running. My exercises consisted of doing easy strength training exercises that I found online (most of them from Sparkpeople). I did leg raises, some reps with hand weights, and wall push ups. I did the "easiest" exercises that I could find. Partly because I was still lazy, and partly because I was too big to do anything else. I had tried some online exercise videos, but it's sometimes hard to do aerobic exercise with so much weight.
After I had lost about 55 lbs (mostly by just changing eating habits) I found out about C25K. I printed out the program and downloaded the podcasts. I was scared of running, so I got Dan to try it with me. We went very slowly and soon enough we had finished day one! (By slowly, I mean someone walking fast or speed walking would have passed me). I repeated week one because I found it pretty hard. Then we came to week two. I repeated that one over and over because I found it too hard to move on. Then I did the same thing with week three. Over and over again until it felt easier.
When I was finally getting pretty confident in week 3, is when my mom was hospitalized. I was so stressed out and away from home for about a month that I just couldn't bring myself to run or to eat healthy. By this point I was around 250 lbs. In the next year I gained 39 lbs back and ate SO poorly that I ended up with a Calcium and Magnesium deficiency which kept me from exercising. (These deficiencies caused me painful muscle cramps even with day to day activities) THAT's when I had trouble going out and about. I had trouble at work, or even shopping.
After seeing the doctor and dietitian I started feeling better. I started c25k again this spring. I've repeated many of the weeks over and over again because I found them hard. Which is completely normal! I only finished the program a few weeks ago, and I have been on the 9 week program since spring!
If I where to give advice, I'd just tell you to try it. But not just once. Try it over and over again. Modify the program if you have to. Cut the days in half if that works better for you, but just TRY it. If it's too hard, then go out the next day and do it AGAIN. That's what I did! Dan was so good at running, that while I was covered in sweat, plodding down the sidewalk he would come up and run circles around me. (Don't worry, he got a piece of my mind about that!) I felt so down about how slow I was, I felt like I wasn't doing it right. Now I know that we just play head games with ourselves. If I can do it, then you can do it.
When you're overweight you have it pushed in your face everywhere about how you're ugly, you're fat, you're too big, too slow, whatever. It's so easy to have that include exercise. If you don't get it done the first time, you think "this program was made for skinny people who don't run, not for someone like me." Or you think that it's just not for you. You're not the exception.
If you still struggle with running, even after several good attempts, then maybe consider a program that's right for you. It could be that running is not for you. Maybe try an elliptical first. Maybe try a speed walking program. There are no good excuses to not exercise and there are no good excuses not to take care of yourself. If you hold yourself in high enough esteem to treat yourself with food, then you can treat your body to a good long life too.
If you have more in depth questions please email me at daphne @ daphnealive . com
I love making you dinner! Im rusty at the healthy cooking because its been so long. You need to come over when i have a little more practice.
ReplyDeleteI love holiday movies!! woohoo!!
ReplyDeleteLOVE your advice about running..especially to *keep* trying. I could not run for more than 2 minutes at a time when I first started..but you just have to keep going back!
You're amazing, neeeever forget it!