Experiments in cooking and self control

Since I gained all this weight eating fast food over and over again for the past few years, I never had a chance to learn how to cook proper, great-tasting, healthy meals for myself. Now I find myself craving the fast food I am not allowed to eat, and in order to avoid it at all costs, I have been obsessively searching for recipes online that might satisfy the cravings. It seems I'm transferring my daily bad eating habits to a daily need to look up new recipes and try to cook things that sound enticing to me. At least, I hope this is what I'm doing, because that means I'm finally doing something right! Here is an example from today- home made Chinese take-out, very tasty!


Sichuan-Style Chicken With Peanuts and Garlic Ginger Bok Choy
(373 Calories, 22g Fat, 30g Protein)

And the rest? So far so good. I've kept up going to the gym, even with the day off Sunday to rest my sore muscles, I've gone to the gym a total of 5 out of 6 days so far. :) Self control? No cheating, no falling off the wagon, no sneaking in extras, I've been good. I even managed to get out of the grocery store without buying the box of cheddar and herb biscuit mix (just add butter and milk!). I have to say that was really tough! Perhaps hitting up the grocery store after the gym, all tired and hungry, was probably the opposite of a good idea!

Here we go, another week!

Cooking and the gym, a new approach to getting thin

And so I'm back, from outer space!

The last time I was in here was December 16th, so I guess that makes it almost 3 months ago? Almost 3 months and regaining all the weight I lost the previous 3 months. Here we go again? Except for this, this time I'm back because I've been scared straight. You know those videos they show you before you start driving, the one's where people are splayed all over the road and there's blood everywhere? They're supposed to deter you from speeding and skipping stop signs and driving drunk. Well, I've been scared straight into eating right and exercising. I knew all these bad eating habits were wreaking havoc on my body and my health, we all know that eating poorly reflects in future bad health, but there's nothing like a good scared straight video, or lecture in this case, to remind of of what you already know.

I went to a lecture and the researcher outlined all the things they found wrong with a group of people acting like couch potatoes for just one week-- healthy people who were kept immobile for a week started developing signs of diabetes, high blood pressure, and kidney failure. Granted, I'm not completely immobile, but yikes. Just one week! My bad habits have been culminating for years! Fortunately, they also found that resuming normal activity for just two days after five days of immobility pretty much reversed all the negative they had done. Hope! I can reverse all the bad I have done to my health, in addition to losing 110 of these 260lbs. Now all I have to do is get back to those healthy habits. Ah, reversing bad habits and making new good habits stick. The hard part. How appropriate, then, that soon after I heard that talk and started worrying about my terrible eating and lack of exercise, I came across this article- How to Change Your Bad Habits

The take-home message? "Then she tells me something wonderful: All I have to do is force myself to exercise regularly for about two weeks, maybe three, and my brain will start producing a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which she calls Miracle-Gro for the brain. It increases brain plasticity, so you can think clearly and focus for longer periods of time. It also increases dopamine neurotransmission, which means the more I exercise, the more reward I get, and the more my dopamine system is activated to make exercising a habit I'll soon crave."

Ok. go. :) I started going to the gym Wednesday, then again Thursday. I will be going tonight, and tomorrow, and you get the point... I'm back.

As for eating healthy? Well, I've also started cooking healthy lunches and dinner and as an added incentive will now be posting some pictures of the recipes I've tried. Fun times, and also delicious! As always, I will put the details about what I eat on a daily basis in my Daily Food Journal. And now, some pictures...

Shrimp Scampi Pasta
(497 Calories, 10.6g Fat, 47g Protein)

Black Beans and Rice with Avocado, Salsa, and Sour Cream
(545 Calories, 36g Fat, 15.55g Protein)

Eggs with leeks, bell pepper, mushrooms, parmesan, and an English muffin
(250 Calories, 15g Fat, 16g Protein)


Baked Cod Casserole
(328 Calories, 13g Fat, 29g Protein)