I uttered a mild expletive and Rachel (the ShopRite of Kingston Dietitian) asked, “Is this the most you’ve weighed?” Yes. Yes it is.
Or, it was until December 11, 2014. I had never been to a dietitian before. The Universe landed me at ShopRite of Kingston during the previous month when synchronistically there was a blood sugar screening happening and I participated. You may have read about that adventure in the last blog.
I have heard it said that there is a difference between awareness and consciousness. I can humbly say that I feel like I have been aware of my overeating habits for some time but not actually conscious of them, to the point that I did something concrete about them… well, not so much, until now.
And thus begins my adventure with calorie counting.
I want to say here that everyone’s relationship with food is different. There are different approaches for each individual. If my experience resonates with you, awesome. If not, take the best and leave the rest.
I oscillate between the mirrors of the Greeks’, “Know thyself” and Shakespeare’s, “To thine own self be true”. In this adventure of knowing myself and being accountable to myself, I know that one of the things I do is to eat healthfully and in bulk quantity. In such bulk quantity that I have been adding on approximately seven pounds a year over the past seven years.
I think of that children’s song Danny Kaye sang called “Inchworm”.The music and lyrics are by Frank Loesser. I learned how to multiply because of these gentlemen.
Inchworm
Two and two are four
Four and four are eight
Eight and eight are sixteen
Sixteen and sixteen are thirty-two
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
You and your arithmetic
You’ll probably go far
(Repeat Chorus)
Inchworm, inchworm
Measuring the marigolds
Seems to me you’d stop and see
How beautiful they are
So, this is another version of the song, “seven and seven and seven and seven and seven and seven and seven are forty-nine… la, la, la, la… inches, inches, on my waist and everywhere…”
I informed Rachel that I am interested in calorie counting. And as the lucky (?) owner of a Smart Phone I have access to myfitnesspal.com. Initially, I was hesitant about calorie counting on an app (I felt like a Luddite) but… I tried it. This thing is awesome! It told me how many calories I can eat a day to lose a half a pound a week!
I am a motivated participant. I have been measuring my food quantities. I am measuring things like olive oil for individual servings by the teaspoonful. Not by the “just pour it” aka unknown liquid OUNCES. I am learning that an eight ounce serving of sparkling apple cider has 117 calories! And that I am not willing to invest my calories in little high fructose corn syrup chocolate treats of the Halloween variety… 50 calories each! Multiply that by 6!
In a year there are 52.177457 weeks. A half a pound per week weight-loss translates to 26.0887285 pounds in one year! In two years, that’s 52.177457 pounds which is around where I want to be. I’ll take it! Sold! I may utter some mild expletives then: Shazam! Bam! Whoohoo!
Here's a recipe for this week: a warm, fulfilling dish of…
Eclectic Cheesy Lima Beans with a side of Mango Pickle in Oil
For one serving, which may just be hearty enough as a main dish, you will need:
Half a cup of frozen or fresh or cooked-from-dry lima beans, 100 calories
1 ounce of grated cheddar cheeses, 114 calories
1.5 teaspoons of mango pickle in oil, 50 calories
(You can find mango pickle in Indian and Pakistani stores)
Put a cup of frozen lima beans (or fresh lima beans in season) into a cast iron pan with about a quarter of a cup of water. Cook over a low to medium heat for eight minutes or until tender and water has been absorbed. Turn off heat. Add grated cheddar cheese. Serve with a tablespoon of Mango Pickle in oil on the side. Simply succulent! Plus, lima beans have huge amounts of molybdenum an essential trace element I need that I didn’t even know about! Molybdenum reminds me of other great words like pamplemousse (or grapefruit) in Français and preisselbeeren (or cranberry or loganberry) in Deutsch.
 |  |
RSS Feed
