January Blues

My cold has put me in a grumpy mood, which isn't helped when I go to the gym. It's insanely crowded this week with all of the New Year's Resolutioners, who either just started new memberships or vowed to take advantage of those they have been paying for. (I suspect most are the latter.) People keep saying, oh, give them a few weeks, and they'll be gone, but it's hard to be that patient when a usual 90 minute gym visit turns into 115 because of waiting for a spot in the stretching area, for every weight machine, for an elliptical.

The hoards have also come running to the online fitness program I'm in. Some of them frighten me: a man, for example, who can't understand why different salads have different calories, for "aren't they all made from lettuce?" Then he goes on to describe a Caesar salad made with chicken, mozzarella cheese, croutons, and dressing. Maybe he thinks those lose their calories when they come in contact with the lettuce?

Another woman claimed that the meal plan suggestions contain absolutely nothing she will eat, and she knows her three year old daughter won't either. Okay, now, she's three. That means that you're the one in charge of feeding her, introducing her to foods, watching her nutritional intake. So "weird" foods like bananas, peanut butter, whole wheat bread, cereal, yogurt and milk, carrots, nuts and apples are foods your kid hasn't been exposed to? No wonder you're overweight. (I posted a semi-snotty response saying that it was the perfect time to introduce her child to healthy foods and set her on the right path for her own adulthood.)

Then there are the two women who both hate vegetables of all kinds. One says she's told her doctor that and he advised she learn to like them, which she thinks is ridiculous. She says she will vomit if she has to eat any, so what is her alternative? Again, I think I see why you are struggling with your weight. Seriously, how can a person hate ALL vegetables? There are so many very different ones, with different tastes... broccoli vs. green beans vs. carrots vs. spinach vs. asparagus vs. beets vs. zucchini vs. tomatoes vs.... well, you get my point. I didn't respond to her because I want to see what the nutritionist who provides advice on the board will say. It just seems to me that if a person isn't willing to be flexible, to try new things in order to change their lifestyle for the better, then how can they hope to really change?

My issue is very different. I eat really healthy foods, shop organic, am vegetarian (eat fish), have not been inside a fast food restaurant in a decade, etc., etc. My problem is portion control - I have developed the bad habit of eating a lot. So I'm trying to adapt to smaller portions of the same foods, minus some of the "extras" (i.e., butter on my vegetables, cheese on my pasta.) So far, so good. Earlier this week I rewarded myself with sushi - I knew I should just get one roll and a salad, but was torn between two of my favorite rolls, so got both. My usual order was three rolls, the third being a hefty shrimp tempura, and I used to finish them pretty easily (sometimes getting full with one or two small pieces left.) Well, this last time I could barely finish the two, and I should have stopped at one and a half because after I felt bloated and stuffed for hours. Physically it felt bad, but psychologically pretty good.

(Although I think the people at the sushi restaurant now think I've broken up with my boyfriend. They used to always give me two sets of chopsticks, because clearly that much food must have been for two people.)