I started this project with two goals; 1. to lose 25 pounds, and 2. get back into the kitchen. Contradictory, you may say, but I don't think so. Much to my horror, I have gained a pound for every year I am past the age of 20. I gained these 25 pounds exactly the same way everyone else has; with amazing ease... I did it by consuming more calories than I burn - no fad diets, no pills, no expensive programs or spa visits. Really. I was never hungry and it was fun. But as my BMI increased, something else important in my life decreased; the time I spend making food. You thought I was going to say exercise, or maybe my metabolism. We'll get back to those.
My husband and I both love to cook, and we're both quite good at it. But we are a case where opposites attract, because we have totally different approaches; I am a clean-as-you-go type, my husband is a kitchen-trasher. I need a clean and orderly space before I begin, he can prepare dinner for 6 people on 1 square foot of flat surface, with total chaos lurking just past the tip of his knife blade. I make sure I have all the ingredients before I start, he'll look in the fridge, take out 3 things and make dinner with them. We do have a clear division of labor; when he makes dinner, I clean up (sometimes I clean up while he is cooking, just to hang out with him in the kitchen - if this drives him crazy he's never said anything...). There are things that he makes, and things that I make: I make pies, he makes the flourless chocolate cake. I make homemade pasta, he makes nori rolls. I make the best brownies ever, he makes Stollen that makes my eyes roll back in my head. I can count on one hand the number of times I have cooked meat since I've been married; I brined and roasted a divine Thanksgiving turkey several years ago, I threw some beef scraps in the crock pot to make dog food last weekend, and I'm sure there have not been 3 other occasions in the last 12 years when I prepared animal flesh for human consumption. We each have "our" recipes. And we each have our favorite knife. But when we cook together, we share a brain; he'll hand me something just before I know I need it, I in turn will answer the question he was just about to ask. But my husband makes dinner much more often than I do. We've just slipped into that routine.
So I find myself just enough out of practice to feel a bit tentative in the kitchen, and just chubby enough to have thousands of dollars worth of clothes that I can't wear. I feel like both happened so incrementally that I didn't notice until recently, and things have gotten way out of hand. The good part is I know exactly what to do to achieve my 2 goals. I just have to start.
I have successfully lost extra weight before. I know what works for me and what doesn't. Moderation works. Deprivation doesn't. Eating exactly what sounds most wonderful leaves me satisfied, therefore less likely to keep eating in search of that perfect bite. Eating whatever is easy and convenient is the worst thing I can do. Eating all the ingredients separately and preparing and eating a dish with those exact same ingredients are wildly different. I could eat a head of lettuce and a chunk of cheese and a handful of nuts and still be hungry, but if I shred the cheese, chop the nuts, make a salad, pour a glass of wine and sit down, put my napkin in my lap, and really eat a salad then I feel like I have eaten. And I can then stop eating.
I am certain part of my weight gain is a result of cooking less - my relationship with food has become neglected; so we need to start with a good knife and a glass of wine and spend more time together.
So, I said I'd come back to exercise and metabolism. Here's what I know. Exercise is a key ingredient. It is not only a key ingredient in weight loss, but of a whole and healthy life. If I get up early and take the dogs out for a walk the rest of the day goes better; Last year I struck a deal with my doctor to run at least 4 days a week for 3 months before going on antidepressants; I ran and I didn't need the prescription. The more I run, the more I can eat. I love that part, but more important than that, the more I run the happier I am. Metabolism is a very complex process, but it responds to exercise, or the lack of it, just like any muscle in your body. Use it or lose it. And the older you get the less neglect you can get away with before your lazy ass becomes your really big lazy ass.
So I am going for a run, and then I'm going to make dinner.
Cheers.
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