Weight Loss Report - Week 9: The Love of Food
Thursday, 13. March 2008, 21:45:26
"You all love food-", our Group Leader told us today (Her name is Gillian, pronounced as in fish gills) "-you wouldn't be here otherwise. But no-one should feel ashamed of admitting that, it's a wonderful thing to love what you eat."
It is indeed. I absolutely adore my food. Hand on my heart, I will happily admit that I take a great amount of pleasure in the the mechanism of our survival as human beings. Gillian told us we all had a favourite meal, and in the next breath pointed round the room and bet us all that our favourite meal had just popped into our heads as she said those words. (
'Holy shit, she reads minds!') She was right. At that very moment I was deep into a heavenly vision of a beautiful, steaming, home-cooked Spaghetti Bolognese, tomatoes glistening under the sweet aroma of herbs and wine...
I was that close to dribbling drown my chin, it's just not funny.
...Oh, and there was also this quick and dirty dish I cooked myself last Friday night, upon my return from walking nigh-on the entire length of Anderson Drive, a dual-carriageway that almost completely bi-sects the CITY of Aberdeen: Gillian had been talking the previous week about this rice dish she'd thought of using those packets of Uncle Ben's microwave rice. There's a Special Fried Rice they do that is really nice, but I'd been avoiding the whole convenience rice thing, unsure as to whether this was bad food or not. When Gillan mentioned it I did a little dance of joy in my head where no-one could point and laugh at me (I won't describe the dance, just let your imaginations run riot
) So yeah, I get home after this longest of long walks and throw one in the micro, along with some extra veg to bulk it up some. I throw the lot into a bowl and am just about to tuck in - utterly ravenous after delaying my normal meal-time by a good two hours with heroic exercise - when I randomly chuck in a chinese-spice Oxo cube and mix that into the excess water from the veg.
I ate this large bowl of food in about two minutes flat, just a shade under the amount of time it took me to prepare it. It was, excuse my french, frakking lovely. I've eaten some amazing meals in recent times, inspirations from all corners of the world, but I tell you...this one simple meal of rice and peas and spicy goodness was perhaps the most amazing thing I could EVER remember eating. My stomach was screaming murder right up until I dropped that lot into it, after which I could hear it giggling quietly for the rest of the night.
Unfortunately that was one shining moment in a very dark week, food-wise. This last fortnight has been very weird; I've felt very run down, listless. My will had vanished like smoke; I was no longer certain why I was doing what I was doing or even that it was having any effect. I had honestly started to consider what I would do if I got another poor result this week. Would I even bother to continue? Or would I just take the almost-stone I'd lost as a blessing and move on to something else?
Lucky I lost another pound and a half this week, then, isn't it?
Gillian cheerfully furnished me with another dot on my card as congratulations for officially reaching the full stone of lost weight, a big blue one, much bigger than the little yellow half-stone sticker. She also gave me a little voucher that entitled me to a free pass: I can now miss a week's lesson without having to pay the full joining fee upon my return - yay!
The happy grin was back as I left.
That was all I needed, I think. Another good result, no matter how small, just to lift my spirits back up again. I've been on a high all night because of it, and I'm going to go to bed shortly probably still grinning when I turn out the lights. "I'm 15 stone 1-and-half pounds, 15 pounds less than when I started, and I feel great!"
It is indeed. I absolutely adore my food. Hand on my heart, I will happily admit that I take a great amount of pleasure in the the mechanism of our survival as human beings. Gillian told us we all had a favourite meal, and in the next breath pointed round the room and bet us all that our favourite meal had just popped into our heads as she said those words. (
'Holy shit, she reads minds!') She was right. At that very moment I was deep into a heavenly vision of a beautiful, steaming, home-cooked Spaghetti Bolognese, tomatoes glistening under the sweet aroma of herbs and wine...I was that close to dribbling drown my chin, it's just not funny.
...Oh, and there was also this quick and dirty dish I cooked myself last Friday night, upon my return from walking nigh-on the entire length of Anderson Drive, a dual-carriageway that almost completely bi-sects the CITY of Aberdeen: Gillian had been talking the previous week about this rice dish she'd thought of using those packets of Uncle Ben's microwave rice. There's a Special Fried Rice they do that is really nice, but I'd been avoiding the whole convenience rice thing, unsure as to whether this was bad food or not. When Gillan mentioned it I did a little dance of joy in my head where no-one could point and laugh at me (I won't describe the dance, just let your imaginations run riot
) So yeah, I get home after this longest of long walks and throw one in the micro, along with some extra veg to bulk it up some. I throw the lot into a bowl and am just about to tuck in - utterly ravenous after delaying my normal meal-time by a good two hours with heroic exercise - when I randomly chuck in a chinese-spice Oxo cube and mix that into the excess water from the veg. I ate this large bowl of food in about two minutes flat, just a shade under the amount of time it took me to prepare it. It was, excuse my french, frakking lovely. I've eaten some amazing meals in recent times, inspirations from all corners of the world, but I tell you...this one simple meal of rice and peas and spicy goodness was perhaps the most amazing thing I could EVER remember eating. My stomach was screaming murder right up until I dropped that lot into it, after which I could hear it giggling quietly for the rest of the night.
Unfortunately that was one shining moment in a very dark week, food-wise. This last fortnight has been very weird; I've felt very run down, listless. My will had vanished like smoke; I was no longer certain why I was doing what I was doing or even that it was having any effect. I had honestly started to consider what I would do if I got another poor result this week. Would I even bother to continue? Or would I just take the almost-stone I'd lost as a blessing and move on to something else?
Lucky I lost another pound and a half this week, then, isn't it?
Gillian cheerfully furnished me with another dot on my card as congratulations for officially reaching the full stone of lost weight, a big blue one, much bigger than the little yellow half-stone sticker. She also gave me a little voucher that entitled me to a free pass: I can now miss a week's lesson without having to pay the full joining fee upon my return - yay!
The happy grin was back as I left.
That was all I needed, I think. Another good result, no matter how small, just to lift my spirits back up again. I've been on a high all night because of it, and I'm going to go to bed shortly probably still grinning when I turn out the lights. "I'm 15 stone 1-and-half pounds, 15 pounds less than when I started, and I feel great!" 
WIDGETIZE
By GoldBug, # 14. March 2008, 13:43:01
I see you didn't hide a link to it in your comment like I did mine.
And at least mine was ON-TOPIC!
By GrantTLC, # 14. March 2008, 14:29:02
I once had that convenience rice but I didn't like it. It didn't even taste like rice. Maybe it was just the brand that I used.
Well done with the weight loss!!
By galadriel, # 15. March 2008, 07:55:25