h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Don't you mean the lager problem, zoomer? (that was Noggin's joke, btw). Meanwhile, plain boiled perogies wouldn't be much of a dietary problem, but who the heckity ever eats plain boiled perogies? I prefer them fried after boiling with a huge whack of fried onions and massive dollops of sour cream.

Thanks for the link, anhaga. It turns out that I know exactly how many calories are in a glass of even though I'm not interested in counting calories with my new lifestyle change. I'm more interested in finding balanced ways of eating which, combined with Doing More, will result in a lifestyle I can live with.

To wit, I am planning to make a fab chicken & veg curry for lunch. Noggin will have his served on a big heap of rice, mine will have some left-over steamed veg from yesterday added to it. I can live with that, no problem.

Poco á poco, as we say here in Spain . . .


az

I don't count calories either. But it's interesting to look at the charts. This one, for example:

http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.index1.html



A single 'Deluxe Breakfast' almost equals a bottle of Laphroaig.

Scary, innit? I read the wonderful Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock awhile ago and was quite stunned at the amount of calories there are in most fast foods, and how much of that comes from unhealthy fats.

I have eaten at McDonalds once in my life, when I was 19 and they first opened in Winnipeg. I was given a coupon for a free Big Mac and so tried it out. And went - ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww, this tastes awful, not like food at all! - and never went back there.

Make no mistake, I adore fresh bbq'd burgers with all the condiments you can imagine, but that Big Mac just tasted like a lot of nuthin to me.

A bottle of is about the same amount of calories as one Big Mac. No competition as far as I'm concerned.

Meanwhile, olive oil is so cheap here in Spain that it is all we ever use for cooking at home. Even when we decide to make chunky twice-fried chips we use olive oil.


az

Don't think I'll weigh myself tomorrow - Nog and I got heavily into the cashews and rosé after the curry . . . don't ask!


az

Curiosity got the better of me - just up 3 grams this morning so will have to 'be extra good' today and also do a bit of extra exercise.

az

Here's a little inspiration.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2006/04/28/darfur-060428.html



Half way through the day I often remind myself 'Okay. I've already had more to eat than most people will see in a day.'

'A WFP ration for one day for a family of four, can cost as little as US$1. In some counties, the cost is even lower; for instance, In Sudan, a food ration costs an average of 15 to 20 cents per person per day.'

http://www.wfp.org/how_to_help/support_wfp/individuals.asp?section=4&sub_section=1

those things make me so depressed!

What I liked recently was seeing a (probably quite old) edition of the last episode of The Biggest Loser (USA)

The guys looked fab, especially the younger one. The woman looked great, but if I'd not seen her before picture I'd have thought "she's got a big bum" (I'm mean like that)

Now they have two engaged couples on who are trying to lose more weight than each other (couples that is, not within the couple) to win a honeymoon in Jamaica.

it's compelling viewing!

Gotta admit I totally 'lost the plot' last week, anhaga. And your link to 'inspiration' was something I had also read about. A friend of mine, Mike, was working for the UN last year in Darfur and some of his accounts really brought all that home for me, well, you know, in a sense. Hearing first-hand stuff from a friend is quite different than just reading about it in the papers.

So . . . lost the plot.

Stress factors over here at casa az (still no sales at all with the website!!) have made both of us fall back on our 'crutches'. Mainly cigs and vino and eating comfort food. Though of course none of this ever makes Noggin put on an ounce. Lucky sod.

The good thing is that we've been maintaining the regular exercise thing on the dreaded BIKE. Nog does about 20 minutes each morning - I do half an hour or more. Nog is trying to stick to 5 cigs a day, I'm just trying to get back to that first week where I felt so good eating in a healthy manner and turning my eating habits around.

You see, it isn't that I *over-eat* and pig out - it's more to do with what I'm eating. Just about anything fills me up just fine.

And of course you are right. Probably after lunch I've already consumed more daily calories than those poor souls in Darfur ever get.

It's something I want to keep in mind. And since what I'm working on is a lifestyle change - not simply a diet to lose weight - I reckon it might take some hits and misses to get it right. So I flicked up this past week, but will hopefully do better next week.

How are you doing?

az

Still heading down, although there seems to have been a plateau there for a few days. Seems to be associated with extended family dinner.

Oddly, if Igo down to Little Italy and get a huge greasy panini I continue progressing in the right direction. Of course, in the old days I would have one of those for breakfast. Now it lasts a day or two.

Well, seriously back in the saddle tomorrow and no foolin' around.

I've even bought a pineapple!


az

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
good luck with that!

I'm still not losing anything...
(although I guess I should do something more than just run now and again...)

I've dropped a few LBs (but I refuse to measure how many on the grounds that I may be building muscle mass).

I've begun a mile-a-day walk and increased my sit-ups to 50 from 25, plus I've cut my alcohol consumption in half (and the nature of the alcohol- I now have the occasional single beer or vodka and pomegranate juice if I have a cocktail. Seems to work but I have yet to get back in the gym I've been paying for but not using for the last six months. Give it time I suppose.

Yeah, I think the make-small-changes way is the best, zoomer. I'm still doing half an hour on The Bike (almost) daily, but still only doing the weights and situps sporadically. Have had to change my cycling to first thing in the morning (eek! 7am !) because it's just too dang HOT to do it after I finish my morning classes. It's been about 40º all week - more like August than May.

az

Remember the Atkins Diet? Remember the Paleolithic Diet, which was basically the Atkins Diet with quasi-Darwinian theoretical underpinnings?

Well, I'm closing in on the thirty pounds lost mark and basically nothing that I'm living on would be allowed on the PaleoAtkins Diet. Grains, legumes and beer, with a bit of sushi now and then.

Fad diets have got to be the most horrible things. I've half a mind to make a web page with before and after photos and free advice: Eat less and get more exercise.

oh well done!

My weight varies by up to 3kg on a daily basis and nothing I do seems to make a difference.

I'm thinking of getting a boob job - that might get rid of around 3kg...

Almost 30 pounds now, anhaga??? Well, have to say that you've gone from being an inspiration to someone I'm going to have to try really hard not to resent.

Seriously though . . . why can't I just get into a different lifestyle thing? It's really been annoying me. Especially as my present lifestyle habits aren't making me feel particularly fabulous.

Is it that whole thing about 'holding on to what you know' because change feels somehow personally threatening? Flicked if I know. But it does seem that becoming someone who eats lots of fruit and doesn't focus on food at all is almost like stripping me of my identity . . . yet I *know* this isn't true. Yet it does feel like that, somehow.

In the past I used to swap one set of obsessive behaviour for another and I ended up being thin but I doubt I was particularly healthy - especially mentally.

I agree with you that fad diets are horrible and stupid things and that they never work well. I also agree with the 'eat less and get more exercise' thing, simply because I *know* this makes total sense.

Reckon I've got a bit of work to do with my chubby inner child . . .


az

Okay - ready! This time . . .

http://azahar.wordpress.com/2006/07/10/stop-me-if-youve-heard-this-one-before/



az

btw anhaga, how are you doing? Still shrinking?

az

Indeed.

Heading for thirty-five lbs lost.


For me it seems to have been less of the 'more exercise' and more of the 'eat less' that's doing the trick.