How's it feel?

Deborah says:
I was having this internal conversation with myself today, wondering if I were famous and a reporter asked me how my life had changed since I lost all this weight, what I would say.

There’s the obvious answers: cool clothes, dating, lots of new activities, walking everywhere, did I mention dating? But I think the biggest change for me has been the chopping. Seriously. Of course I’m writing this after I just spent three hours in the kitchen chopping!


I try and keep a few hours free on a Sunday to prepare for the week ahead. I usually make a large dinner so that I can put at least six meals in the freezer with the leftovers. Today I made a zucchini/quinoa “lasagna” that will give me nine servings but involved making a veggie marinara sauce, cooking the quinoa filling and slicing six zucchinis into lasagna noodle-like slices. While I was doing that, I washed grapes and divvied them up into little bags for lunch time servings. I did the same for carrots, celery, broccoli and cherry tomatoes – again for lunches this coming week. I chopped walnuts and premade my breakfasts which is oatmeal this week (oats, chopped walnuts, flax, honey, craisins) and I packed up milk for the oatmeal as well. I also chopped three apples and three Asian pears and divided them up into little baggies. So now I’m set for the week.
I feel like a girlscout, but be prepared seems to be my new motto. In my freezer I have frozen blackberries (on sale, bought a bunch!) for smoothies. I have two dozen super healthy muffins ready to be taken out and put in my lunch bag. I have frozen bananas that were past their prime – some whole for baking and some chopped up for smoothies (thanks Heather – great hint). I have pomegranate, pumpkin and shredded zucchini in two cup baggies. I have tomato paste in tablespoon sized bits. Everything is ready. And most of it had to be chopped.

If I let my hunger overtake me, my blood sugar get low, or my emotions rule my appetite, I need to have healthy things ready to go. So the best buys I’ve made in the past year? A set of good knives, a new cutting board and a comfy pair of Birkenstocks to wear in the kitchen while I’m standing and chopping on a Sunday afternoon.

I guess I'm never going to make the front page with a story as boring as that, huh? : )


Arlene says:
How has my life changed? It’s interesting, but I don’t think about food less. I remember craving food and feeling guilty about choices in the past. Now I think about food with far less guilt. Like Deborah, my thinking is more about the planning aspect now; especially when preparing for risky situations like food provided during a meeting. I don’t need to eat then, it’s extra, over and above the planned meals for the day and somehow infinitely more desirable than the apple in my office. At this point my plan involves giving myself permission if there is something remotely healthy and then making sure it is only one extra thing. I do Implementation Intentions if there are cookies (not remotely healthy), which usually involve having the apple immediately after the meeting or going to get it. Some choices are definitely getting easier, but it is still work everyday.