Monday 30 August 2010

Day 6 Social Derailment

Glorious sunny day today, a teeny nip in the air in the shade. Autumn is definitely blowing in.
I'm feeling pretty good. And it is Bank Holiday Monday, so quiet times in the street chez moi, hurrah!

Foodwise, mostly good choices, except for the social event Kaffee und Küchen round at my friend's - a ladies only teaparty. It also included lots of sparkling wine, elderflower flavoured water, and delicious cake, made by the hostess herself. All things I love. So I had them.

However, not everyone felt the same way and this was interesting how each woman did her own thing with the offers of cake. I noticed that the smaller trimmest ladies only had small portions, and desisted from some of the offerings, the hostess herself who is tall and very thin (natural state) only picked off the bits she liked from her cakes - the rest was given to the birds, and myself and the other woman (slightly overweight), ate all of ours, and sampled the other stuff on offer. Only one very fit woman ate as much as us latter two, and she had well shaped defined arms - turns out her day job was gardening and her hobby was her allotment! So she was quite happily tucking into lots of cake without a qualm.

That's who I want to be. The fit, healthy, ACTIVE individual who can say, "yes please", instead of demurring to a hostess proferring foodstuffs without worrying about appearing greedy, or worrying that it will instantly attach itself to her hips.

And it got me thinking about how much of food eating is down to how we are brought up or used to. My family love to eat. Food is my father's passion. My mother can take it or leave it, but she loves junk food, crisps, sweets, biscuits. The culture I am from is one that if you visit someone's home, you are always offered food and drink to excess, and hostesses are most disappointed if you do not try at least one morsel of Grandma's old recipe X delicacy...I grew up thinking it was good manners to eat, and finish off my plate. And at home there was always abundant food, grazing inbetween meals, snacking when out shopping, when off to take exercise there was always a pitstop to have a drink or a little something. Food was as much a social thing as fuel to live. My father would plan his journeys by various pitstops to sample local dishes of note. Heh. I am chortling to think about it now. But all that was normal to me. And I have grown up to be a good and appreciative guest. And it shows!

So - back to my ideal - fit, healthy, active me who can take or leave any foodstuff. The is an element of psychology to deal with too here before that can be achieved. Perhaps I might try to do the leaving something small on my plate trick so I get comfortable about not having to polish off my plate and making my stomach uncomfortable. Now that goes entirely against the grain for me. I wonder what triggers I will find in this train of thought.

Food today: chicken 5 pcs, roobios tea
prawns, tomato, watercress, 1 tbsp olive oil in french onion baton (100g)
lots of raspberries, 2-3 pints water
slice of apple & plum cake, slice of sponge filled with jam, cream & raspberries, 2 x 1" squares chocolate brownies, 1 similar piece flapjack dipped in chocolate, 2 glasses fizzy chardonnay, 2 glasses elderflower water, tea with milk
rice noodles, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 pork chop, watercress, spinach, garlic, soy sauce, maggi seasoning, slug of sesame oil. Banana, 1 pint water

Exercise: walk to allotment 10 mins

Other discovery of the day - calories burned per exercise done. most useful. And a calculator that shows that a woman of my weight, height & age performing 1-3 days  exercises/sport these other interesting ideas: (exercise being the 20-30 mins 3x a week recommendation by doctors)
Calories to maintain weight: 2863
to lose 1 lb per week: 2363
to lose 2 lb per week: 1883

If I was to up my exercise to moderate: 3-5 days exercise/sport a week (I imagine this is good heart pumping sessions of at least an hour each time)
Calories to maintain weight: 3227
to lose 1 lb a week: 2727
to lose 2 lb a week: 2227

Interesting number crunching. Plus yet another consideration for balance is this note: For a more balanced approach to a 1 pound per week weight loss, increase your activity. Decrease calorie intake by 250 calories per day and exercising to expend (use up) the other 250 calories. This approach prevents a decrease in your metabolic rate and promotes increased lean muscle mass.

Food for thought.
Guess I am having very interesting dreams tonight!

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