We go again
If you're unhappy with how you look and feel after the year from hell, you're not alone.
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The pandemic impacted basically every aspect of our lives. It was inescapable. For me, the area it made the biggest impact was on my physical health, and I know I’m far from alone in this regard. Exercising became much harder to do basically overnight. Gyms across the country shut down, and for months people were even unsure about exercising outside (even though this was eventually shown to be very safe). I, like many other people, had virtually no home exercise equipment, so once the situation really got serious, I was left with basically no outlet for physical activity.
Compound this with quarantine culinary adventures and the stress eating that comes along with having another baby and several other personal issues, and you won’t be surprised to learn that I’m tipping the scales significantly higher than I was one year ago. And I’m not the only one.
I don’t think it’s controversial to say American culture has an unhealthy relationship with weight. I’m not here to shame anyone. There are lots of different body types, and as long as people are comfortable with themselves I don’t think they should feel pressured to look different. But my situation is not that, because I feel awful.
In early 2008, I aggravated an existing back injury and found myself in a very bad place. At one point, it was so bad that the only way I could get out of bed was to roll onto the floor and drag myself up by grabbing onto the windowsill, all while in excruciating pain. I herniated a disc in my lower back, and I was out of work for a month while getting injections and basically leaving my bed only to eat and use the bathroom. And during this month of extreme inactivity and emotional binge eating, I gained about 30 pounds.
My back issues eventually went away, but the weight has stayed with me ever since. No matter what I tried, I was never able to lose more than a couple pounds without immediately gaining it back. I even developed a halfway decent gym habit, but the numbers never moved the way I wanted them to. And then in the fall of 2019, I finally got fed up and made changes.
I didn’t reinvent the wheel, but I did enough that the pounds finally started to fall off and stay off. I cut out snacking (a huge problem for me), committed to eating more salads and vegetables, and tried to limit drinking to the weekends. And after seven months, I was down over 20 pounds and tantalizingly close to my college weight. That was April, 2020, and over the last year, that number slowly ticked back up until last month, I stood on the scale and saw the same number as when I started.
Needless to say, this was utterly demoralizing. My one successful attempt at losing weight after a decade of trying was gone, like it never even happened.
This time, though, I’m not going to wait a decade before I try to get myself back to where I want to be. And while this is clearly not a situation I wanted to find myself in again, this time I’m armed with the knowledge that I can do it, and I know how. I’m reinstituting some discipline when it comes to mid-afternoon and late night snacks, and trying to be more conscientious about the things I put into my body. The big adjustment this time will be exercising. Even if I felt good about going to the gym, trying to find the time with two kids under three at home is a real challenge. To help with this, I’ve assembled an incredibly threadbare gym in my basement. It’s not the same, but it helps me eliminate a major excuse for not working out since there’s no commute and I can be done in under 20 minutes. And now that the weather is nicer I can always go for a walk, run, or bike ride. I’m making do, but diet is going to be more important than ever. It sucks!
I’ve never been a particularly patient person. If I’m not good at something right away or don’t see immediate progress, there’s a good chance I’m going to walk away from it. But I know this is a long game, and I’m not going to be successful unless I chip away, slowly and steadily.
We made this Basque chicken recipe for dinner last night, and I think it does a great job of being generally pretty healthy but also satisfying. I’m usually wary of spiralizer recipes, but this is a very good one. Just make sure you bump up the seasoning levels substantially (the recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of paprika, and I used 2 teaspoons, for example). If you have any health-conscious recipes you think actually taste good and don’t leave you feeling hungry right away, I would love it if you shared them in the comments below. We’re in this together, team.
Now, in the name of fairness, here’s the Buffalo chicken Detroit style pizza we made over the weekend. Balance in all things, you know.
Couple of things for "healthy meals". One, if you struggle to enjoy a salad, think about just putting something warm on it. A fried egg over easy adds relatively little calories, but tons of flavor and makes it seem special. A steak salad, with fresh strawberries and spinach, along with s small amount of nice balsamic is really filling, and if you pre-slice the steak even 4 ounces really feels like a meal. My wife tries to put spinach underneath everything, even sausage and peppers. Cuts down on the amount of carbs, adds some veggies.
Two- if you get bored with chicken breasts, but want to avoid pork and other really fatty meats, boneless, skinless chicken thighs make stir fry, fajitas, and most chicken dishes way better and easier to cook. They've actually been hard to find during the pando, but buy in bulk and freeze 1-1.5 pound servings. I make a homemade pad thai (deconstructed for the kids to just chicken, scrambled eggs and peanut noodles) and they are perfect with lots of veggies.
These are a few of my go-to recipes for when I feel that I shouldn't just eat an entire ribeye for dinner:
- This is great in summer (we do pita or pita chips) : https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/07/hummus-heaped-with-tomatoes-and-cucumbers/
- More of a side but very tasty: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/09/sichuan-style-smashed-cucumber-salad-recipe.html
- Pine nuts are expensive so we just leave them out of this: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2009/08/orzo-with-cherry-tomatoes-capers-lemon-recipe.html
- I also love smoothies with the following: banana, full-fat plain yogurt, pb, frozen spinach (not much), frozen cherries (not much), frozen blackberries (some) and frozen blueberries (lots)