Thanks Tiffanie, this thread has given me a lot to think about and some very inspiring stuff here as well.
Sports injuries are the worst Ryan, if these are the sort of injuries that we pick up from playing in our spare time then imagine what it must be like for people who play pro sports all their lives! We'll kick this fat to the kerb with a bit of good old fashioned hard work and common sense :)Great to hear that you are following through on your plans, I've found that 3 days tends to be the initial hurdle into incorporating something into your daily routine - if you can do it for 3 days in a row then you're more likely to stick with it.
On that subject, I've started doing some very light exercise - 30 situps and 10 pressups every day. I'm aiming to do this every day for a week, then next week I'll up the reps a little bit. At the moment I don't think I'm getting much benefit from it apart from a sense of accomplishment and probably won't see anything more substantial until I start doing more reps per day. I'm doing it this way because I really want to try and get myself to do exercise every day and make it part of my life. Lord knows how many times I've said "Right, starting today I'm going to do 60 situps and 60 pressups every day!" and spectacularly failed to implement it.
Tonight is my sister-in-law's graduation and we're going out to dinner afterwards, and then tomorrow is the party/celebration dinner. It's likely to be full of food loaded with fat, sugar and all of that other unfortunately delicious stuff so I'm busting out my Eating Out Survival Guide.
- Don't eat the bread if your food will arrive quickly, but if you need to eat some then have very little. Look for brown bread if provided, and it goes without saying that you shouldn't eat the butter.
- If I have a salad, I have it without dressing as salad dressings can have a very high fat or calorie content (who else remembers Supersize Me, when the dude finds out that the McDonalds salads with dressing are actually just as bad and in some cases worse than their burgers?) It also lets me say "I'll have a naked salad" which causes a few upraised eyebrows and laughs amongst dinner company. If you do want to go for dressing, then look for "light" or "low fat" options.
- When choosing a main course, in general a protein-centric dish will be better than one centred around carbs like a pasta dish. There are of course exceptions!
- Look for roasted, boiled or grilled rather than fried.
- Ask if your portion of chips/fries can be substituted for one of boiled vegetables or a green salad.
- If you end up having something with a load of sauce then don't eat all of the sauce. That took me a surprising ammount of time to work out!
- I tend to look at the menu and decide whether I'm going to have desert or not right at the start of the meal. If I see something really special that I want then I be as healthy as possible for the main, but if I don't want desert then I can afford to take a few more liberties.
- If you do have desert, see if someone wants to share. Being a baker and confectioner taught me just how much sugar and butter goes into those sweet sickly treats, so share the load if you can.
- Lastly, and the most important thing for me: if you end up eating something that you didn't originally want to or ate something that went against your meal plan, then don't go "ah screw it" and dig into the junk food! It doesn't make you feel better. When it happens to me I eat quite lightly the following day and then get right back to it.
Ye gods, what an essay
Wish me luck for the next couple of days!
