Category Archives: General

How to Feel Amazing

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You know how sometimes you realise something about yourself or your own capabilities, and you think “I didn’t know I could do that!”, and a big smile spawns on your face. Well, that’s how I’ve been feeling for the past week or so, because I didn’t know I could have this much energy, this much pure, unfabricated, wondedrful energy. (And I hardly drink any coffee at all any more.)

As you know, I started eating healthier when I got back from my Christmas holidays, just to try to recover from two weeks of over consumption of all things tasty. I’m not going to tell you it was easy, because cutting away all fast carbohydrates from my diet was hard, not eating any sweeties was hard, and eating smaller portions even though I was really hungry (or my eyes were anyway) was hard. It still is sometimes, but I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. I can still eat all the veg and fruit and meat and cheese and lots of other things I like – I just have to be a bit more innovative when coming up with something to complement them instead of potatoes, rice or pasta. But that’s not impossible at all. This week, for example, I’m craving pizza, and after a little bit of research I found this recipe for grain and gluten free pizza base with cheese and cauliflower!

But anyway, back on track. The point is, I feel absolutely marvellous. I’m energetic, I work out 5 days a week, I am full of life, and I’m really enjoying that feeling. I think it must be a combination of more exercise and a healthy diet. And I do think a heavy decrease in sugars and carbohydrates has a lot to do with it. I’m less bloated, I fart less (tee-hee), and I’m not as hungry or feeling as snacky all the time. I eat one small piece of chocolate every evening with my tea, and that’s it. No more. One small piece is enough.

I’ve also started eating breakfast. I never used to, and that’s still something that I find difficult to do on certain mornings. It’s just some natural yoghurt with nuts and raisins, but it’s much better than nothing, and it ties me over till lunch time. When I wasn’t eating breakfast, I was eating a lot more unhealthy snacks.

The effects of all this are, to me, astonishing. I’m alert and awake, and I want to do things. I’m doing translation assignments after work. I’m feeling creative, I draw and paint more, I follow through with my ideas and I still have time to just chill out and play video games in the evenings.

All this energy is making exercise a pleasure. Or well, I still hate it sometimes when I’m slaving on the treadmill or in the running tracks, but I love to see the change in my body, how I get stronger and leaner and how I can do more each time I come back to the gym. Even exercises that I used to hate with a passion, like the shoulder press, are getting easier and more enjoyable – until the next time it’s time to up the weights, of course. The point is, there’s progress, and it’s tangible, and I love it.

But I do have a goal with all this. Apart from living a long and healthy life, which is the long term aim, I have a few shorter term ones as well. I would like to lose weight. I’ve lost about 8kg so far, and I would like to loose a bit more, to reach the weight I was at when I was younger and more fit. Then I want some muscle definition. I want abs, and a killer back, nice shoulders and strong legs. I don’t want to be skinny, I want to be strong, and I want it to show.

 

Carbs carbs carbs!

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Those of you that know Foamy, will know what I’m talking about. Carbs carbs carbs! It’s a couple of weeks into the new year and everyone’s hysterical about their New Year’s resolutions – most of them being about weight loss. So is mine. Why? Because I ate too much. It’s very simple. I have a sitting down job, most of the things I enjoy doing at evenings and weekends involve sitting down for long periods of time (including having dinner), so I have to think about what I eat – or more crucially, not eat all the things I think about.

Things I think about that I may not eat:

  • Potatoes
  • Cake
  • Pasta
  • Candy
  • Chips
  • Crisps
  • Rice
  • Chocolate
  • Bread
  • Anything containing processed sugar
  • Anything containing white flour

Boo.

Basically, this means I can’t eat any of the food on offer here in Scotland. Badum-Tish! No, that’s not true, there’s plenty of nice things I can eat, and lots of things I can eat lots of. Here are those things:

  • Green vegetables – lots of those
  • Meat
  • Chicken
  • Fish
  • Anything veg growing above ground
  • Dairy – mmmm, cheese…

Now, I know what you’re thinking. That second list is way shorter! But wait, what If I list every vegetable I can eat, or even just divide them into groups based on colour? The list would be much longer. And think about all the different types of dairy. Anyway, the idea is that the lack of carbohydrates with force the body to use up fat reserves for energy instead, inducing weight loss. And obviously, cutting out processed sugar and fatty foods such as crisps and chips and other deep fried things also goes a long way toward healthier eating, leading to weight loss. So that’s basically what I’m doing. If I feel snacky, I have a glass of water (Hunger may actually be thirst in disguise. I know I’m not drinking enough water, so this is often the case with me) and if that doesn’t work, I’ll have some fruit or veg.

Don’t think I’m not eating though, because I am! I have 2 nice, hot meals a day, breakfast, and a snack in the afternoon. At first I had a bit of trouble figuring out what to use instead of pasta/rice/potatoes to fill out my plate, but I’ve found some nice recipes that solves that problem. Some of them aren’t even recipes. They’re just things. Broccoli is one. Cauliflower is the other. Both are super-healthy, and can be prepared in a number of different ways. Yesterday, for example, I had cauliflower mash. Yep. Just boil ye old cauliflower until it’s a bit mushy, drain it of water and stick it back in the pot along with some butter or oil. Season to your liking. (I like salt, nutmeg and white pepper, just like in regular mash). The cauliflower is wetter than potatoes and won’t hold together as well, so it will only need a little – if any – milk. Mash it all together until it resembles, well, mash. If you want you can add things to it at this stage. I had green peas in mine, but I bet sweetcorn or little bits of broccoli would go really well as well.

And of course, a nice salad can’t go wrong with your fish, or burger or whatever, as long as you subtract the croutons and any root vegetables.

Note, though, that this diet isn’t for life, but with some minor changes it will be. When I’ve dropped all my winter-kilos, I’ll be adding whole grain pasta and brown rice, as well as bulgur and qinoa to my diet, making cooking a bit less of a challenge, but keeping it healthy.

There are two reasons as to why I’m doing this.

  1. Self esteem – I feel like shit when I can’t fit into my clothes without generating muffin tops and spawning love handles. Feels good to look good.
  2. Health – There’s both diabetes and heart problems in my family. I don’t want to risk it.

I’ll be combining the diet with reluctant exercise, and a healthy sleep every night. Oh, and no alcohol. I’ll keep you posted.

 

Now, would you like my next post to be about something more interesting? Comment below.