Food vs Snacks

I’ve been working 12 hour Fridays since January. I do not love the 12 hour shifts, but they have brought something very important to my attention.

At work, I don’t have time to eat a proper lunch. This is a huge change from my job of the last two years, where we had structured breaks and I was doing enough (literal) heavy lifting that I had to  schedule caloric intake.

I think that this week I’ve finally found a way around it.

Step 1: Hummus. I really, really love hummus. So I’ve been bringing snacks that work with hummus – pita chips, cut vegetables and (occasionally) boneless buffalo wings from the grocery store (surprisingly tasty with hummus!). It turns out that a hummus break can pack great calories into a few bites and has enough flavor to make it feel worth my while. I buy a bag of baby carrots (ready to eat) at the beginning of the week, a chunk of celery to chop, and three green/red/yellow peppers. For 20 minutes of chopping and bagging, I don’t have to do it again for the rest of the week.

Step 2: Green Monster. I’m making this shake for breakfast. What I like about this – minimal prep on my part. I cut and freeze the bananas. I buy the triple-washed baby spinach buckets. I dig that it’s got protein and some serious nutrients, not to mention PEANUT BUTTER. I’m hoping this is going to give me enough jump to get through the first part of my day.

Those that know me know I DO NOT drink coffee. I’m also not big on breakfast unless it is accompanied by sleeping in. I’ve used about every liquid nutrition option  out there (Slim Fast, tofu smoothies, etc). The canned slim fast is effective and fast but not especially cost efficient. Tofu smoothies typically require a bit more prep.  I’m digging the ‘chop the banana and put it in the freezer’ plan.

Spouse has been using spinach in his shakes for years but I’ve always been skeptical. This is the first recipe that made me think I’m going to like it.

So that’s the plan I’m using to see if getting through the work week can be made a little easier.

My holiday gift to you

I spent a large chunk of today looking about the web for a good way to corral the recipes I find online, add my own and have access to all of it on my phone. Since I’m a nice person, I shall share with you the fruit of my labors.

First and foremost, I spent a worthwhile bit of time consolidating and organizing my bookmarks in Chrome so that it syncs them all and everything is in easily identifiable folders on all the computers I use. AMAZING. There is no proper reason for me to feel as smug about this as I do.

Some time ago I purchased the Real Simple android app and it was worth the $5. You get to choose the amount of time you have to cook as well as a protein and then it gives you a list of options to choose from. Every recipe I’ve ever made from Real Simple has been fantastic and the app is a collection of those.

Today I added OurGroceries (free), so that Spouse and I can avoid duplicating purchases at the grocery store. It syncs the lists so we each know what we need and can check them off as we go.

But what about the initial premise- adding stuff I find online and my own recipes? I attempted My Cookbook first but when you attempt to add a recipe from a webpage, it’s rather a shit show as to what will actually import correctly.

Through a vast amount of googling and some trial and error, I tripped upon ChefTap (free). I tend to be skeptical of anything that claims to be “the first” to do anything but I’ve got to tell you this app is the shit. I imported recipes from no less than 5 websites, all of which look vastly different in structure, and where MyCookbook failed ChefTap kicked ass. They imported brilliantly and formatted exactly as desired. The only downside to this app: no desktop, so you’ll have to do the browsing from your phone or send yourself links to add the recipes from webpages. On the other hand, it’s vastly superior to me having to type in ANYTHING on my own.

As a second bit of awesome, ChefTap will also sync and import any recipes from epicurious.com and allrecipes.com (neither of which have mobile apps that sync across all platforms). This has persuaded me to open an account at epicurious and the sync feature is pretty brilliant.

In related free apps, I also got Sweet and Spicy Indian Food so I’m pretty stoked to try that out as well.

I’m starting to add my frequently made/favorite recipes/recipes from mom on Epicurious and then searching out other faves online so that I’ve got them with me all the time.

I also took a bit off the BrokeAss Gourmet’s Cranberry-Zinfandel Brownie Bites and adapted them for fresh cranberries and high altitude. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out, thought I think I might want a mini-cupcake pan since I made mine in regular cupcake liners.

Incidentally, this was all prompted by making a fantastic General’s Chicken recipe for lunch today and wanting it on my phone for a shopping list. Spouse is working out and I’m couched in the basement with a bottle of Snow Day and Dr. Who Netflixing on my TV.

Hppy

Cheese dip for your sandwich

A couple weeks ago I made some amazing Paula Deen chipotle cheese dip. This week I found a way to make it amazing on sandwiches.

8 oz lt cream cheese
2 chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce
Juice of one lime
1/2 c low fat mayo

Blend in food processor

Without the mayo it’s got a thicker texture which is great for crackers. With the mayo, it’s spreadable and AMAZING with lunchmeat. I had it with roast beast yesterday and turkey today.It may be my new favorite thing ever.

It’s going to be a long week.

I’m traveling at the end of this week and it would be a lie to say I’m looking forward to airports, airplanes and rental cars.

Lately I’ve been on a mad Buffalo Chicken kick. Once upon a time I was a vegetarian for a couple of years and the thing that got me back in the meat wagon was the Buffalo Chicken Sandwich at Hooters. Ever since then, good buffalo sauce has been my Kryptonite.

This is my quick and dirty fix : (I’m partial to Frank’s Red Hot but you can use whatever you like in this recipe.)

1 boneless chicken breast, cut in pieces and cooked

Buffalo/hot sauce to taste

Palmful of precut cabbage mix

Diced tomatoes

Lt. Blue Cheese dressing to taste

Whole wheat tortillas

Heat the chicken and add hot sauce
Warm the tortilla and fill with all ingredients

NOLA

The first thing people ask about when I mention NOLA are beignets. Weird, right?

These were at Café Beignet. While we did visit Café du Monde a couple of times, I actually preferred the beignets here. They were a bit lighter and fluffier but don’t get me wrong – beignets in any incarnation are delicious. This was the spot on Bourbon Street which wasn’t actually on Bourbon – a little courtyard just off the sidewalk, with the tables and counters deep in the lot. The live music which was always playing distracts from the strip clubs and pounding dance beats that make up the majority of this part of Rue Bourbon, such that it’s kind of a shock to get back to the sidewalk and the noise after your interlude and treats.

Our first two days though, were all about French Quarter Fest. I wish I had a single picture that captured what it was like, but this is the best of the bunch.

We arrived to hotter than usual weather, which was LOVELY. I, who hate extreme heat and humidity, was thrilled by the change in latitude. I believe my exact words were, “It’s as hot and moist outside as it is on my insides!” This was said with an inordinate amount of joy. We walked from the CBD to Bourbon a couple of times the first day, checking out the Fest and Rue Bourbon. While it’s no Red Light District, I’ll say Bourbon Street lives up to its hype.

The French Quarter Fest comprised of some major stages right on the Mississippi which – if you haven’t seen it from NOLA – looks like a completely different body of water when compared to the crossing at St. Louis, as well as a bunch of smaller stages throughout the quarter. In addition, there were a boatload of buskers and bands playing virtually anywhere they found free sidewalk or streetspace. The end result was the loveliest, largest street party you’ve ever seen and the best food I’ve ever put in my mouth.

The band in this picture was a Dixieland Jazz band from Belgium.

The balconies and galleries everywhere were lush with greenery as well as chock full of decoration. They made walking an especially interesting adventure.

We were lucky and had Marlene to show us around on Sunday. I think we must have walked the entirety of the Quarter (she was a champ) and gave us the lowdown on local favorites and history, not to mention all the dirt on local film shoots. In keeping with my experiences thus far, meeting an old internet friend (8 years? A bit more?) for the first time in person was wonderful. She also went above and beyond the call of duty with an amazing gift baskets of snacks and goodies, of which we made SERIOUS use.

One of my favorite buskers during the Festival:

We spent a fair amount of evenings during the week on Frenchmen Street listening to local music. This was one of my favorite doorways:

Food and drink will likely have to be another post, but this picture really captures the mood during our vacation. The best part was that this sign was off Bourbon Street at a small, out of the way neighborhood bar.

Success, tentatively

I’ve been feeling a weird generalized anxiety lately. I’m not sure what it’s about, but I can tell you that watching the Sunday morning newshows doesn’t help. Lindsay Graham has the singular ability to jack my blood pressure into the roof.

Checking the LJ and rss feeds shows that my journal import has NOT in fact crippled the flist/feed. I’m really glad because it means all my yoga posts have returned. Now if only I could figure out what I was using to crosspost to wordpress.com, it would be amazing to have the same backup but I guess I can widgetize an alternative.

My only weird consequence is categories. I suddenly have a bajillion more categories than I’ve been using since the blog reboot and I haven’t sufficiently researched a way to condense them. Instead I’ve treed them under the reboot categories and just disabled the drop-downs so as not to clutter the page. Yay for tag clouds!

I’m reading God’s War by Kameron Hurley, which I first heard about in a Scalzi Big Idea post. As soon as I read that entry, I thought ‘That sounds awesome.’ Alas, when I went to add it to my Kindle wishlist, it wasn’t available in format. Insert frownyface. So imagine my delight when Books on the Knob announced that Nightshade was giving free ebook copies for a book club! I haven’t used calibre in a while, so I re-downloaded/installed and when the e copy arrived I converted it. So far I’m enjoying it as much as I hoped I would.

Speaking of enjoyment and Scalzi (I kind of was, right?) he gave up Coke Zero for Lent and I’m pretty sure it was the picture in that post which convinced me to try Coke Zero. No lie, it’s delicious. So I guess I’m going to take up Scalzi’s Coke Zero consumption for Lent and make sure Coca-Cola doesn’t lose any market share.

In Netflix movie news, I watched Chloe last week and I really enjoyed it. Not your typical psychological thriller but pretty fantastic nonetheless, with stunning performances all around. 4.5 of 5 stars

Last night we watched The Social Network (which means we might be the last people, ever) and I enjoyed it more than I expected. In fact, I found the Zuckerberg character to be kind of hilarious and Eduardo – I’m pretty sure he was intended to be sympathetic – to be a bit smarmy. After all, it cannot POSSIBLY be in dispute that had Zuckerberg NOT gone to Cali and hooked up with Sean Parker there is no chance Facebook would be what it is today. Also, Winklevi  = fail. Especially given that you settled for $65 mil and then sued AGAIN because $30+ mil A PIECE wasn’t ENOUGH? REALLY. All the win goes to Zuckerberg and I hope to Christmas his depositions were in fact that awesome because those scenes SLAYED me.

Unrelated, we watched Zach Galifinakis host SNL and it was funnier than I’ve seen it in a while. The musical act was a bit odd, so I googled/youtubed and was pleasantly surprised to find Jessie J has a great voice. I’m a bit sad that I’ve missed out this long probably because I don’t listen to popular radio but her album drops next month and I’ll definitely be picking it up.

NOLA is quickly approaching and I am EXCITED. Not just because I’ll get to wear shorts and blind the local population with my reflective fishbelly white skin but because FOOD. Food, y’all. It might as well be the sole reason I travel.

Great things about the internet

1. Netflix

2. wikipedia, for when a movie is so boring that you aren’t convinced you want to watch the whole thing you can look up the entire plot and make an informed decision

3. Tiramisu pancakes – The only thing better than a breakfast food is one that doubles as a dessert

4. Finding good fanfiction that you first read YEARS AGO and discovering that it’s still good. ahem.

Related:

2011 films

The Fighter – Dude. So good. Christian Bale is creepy fucking talented and if he doesn’t get the Oscar he’s being ripped off – not just for this role but because his entire body of work (except maybe Batman) is just incredible. He INHABITS these people. 5 of 5 stars

Centurion – I liked this far more than I’d expected. Bonus appearance of McNulty as Roman general (how much do I still miss The Wire?). Fairly typical, minus the stirring Gladiator-wannabe speech with a nice surprise of female badass badguys. Just a generally entertaining and solid watch. 4 out of 5

The End of the Affair – Dude. Great plot. SUCH A LONG AND DRAWN OUT PRODUCTION. They could have chopped a half an hour out of this flick and it wouldn’t have suffered a minute. This is the movie I referred to in my wikipedia shout out. Yes, I watched the whole thing. 3 of 5

Conversations with Other Women – I honestly can’t tell you why I watched the entire film. Soft spot for Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter, maybe? Interesting (if familiar) Before Sunrise type plot with a few unexpected twists. Enjoyable but not great. 3 of 5

Dear John – So much less god than the usual Nicholas Sparks film and not his ‘typical’ plot. In other words, I actually liked it. 3 of 5

Unrelated:

Sexy Valentine’s moment #12 – My left big toe, which I ran over with heavy equipment a while ago, shed its toenail. Less gross than anticipated but it turns out I’m probably lucky that I didn’t break the damn toe (having seen the damage).

Further unrelated:

After having a break from Yoga Journal for a while, I subscribed during their crazy $1.99 for 1 year deal and got my first issue today. It is surprisingly… light. Perhaps they’re shifting more content online? Guess I’ll have to check out their website.

In reading notes, I’m currently in the middle of Catherynne M. Valente’s Palimpsest.

An Omnivore’s Dilemma

Today when I opened the Delicious Bookmarks app on my phone, the first thing I saw was “Spiced Pork and Apricot Stew”. Sounds amazing, right? I put together the shopping list and after work I picked up the ingredients.

The recipe calls for 2.5 lbs of boneless pork shoulder, excess fat removed, in 2 inch pieces. Living where I live, there’s no local butcher. I therefore trek to the grocery and find that my options are pork shoulder, bone in, the size of my head or larger. Improvise, adapt, overcome.

I lug the smallest shoulder – 7.75 lbs, for the record – to the checkout with the rest of my supplies. There’s an audible thunk when it hits the conveyor belt. Fast forward home, where I unpack the massive chunk of meat and the rest of the supplies are shuffled into appropriate locations.

This is where I tell you that I’m not a fan of pork. Never have been. In the last two years, thanks to some experimental recipes, I’ve declared a tenuous truce with pork (provided it does not include fried pork chops). It seems that recipes involving fruit work best for me, so the stew sounds PERFECT. I just have to figure out how to whittle down this massive slab of meat.

I start by hacking it in half. “Hacking” is not an exaggeration, by the way. I manage to cleave the beast and have to rope the spouse into putting the other half away before it begins taunting my weakness. I’m still not quite sure who won – me or the shoulder.

I spent TWO HOURS attempting to debone and unfattify that GD pork shoulder. TWO HOURS. My neck hurts, my hands are cramped and I’ve managed to mildly gross myself out by identifying the anatomical parts before chopping into them. Note to self: objectify your food. It’s okay. You can be thankful for the pig later, when you’re not admiring the striations of its subscapularis. THANKS ANAT AND PHYS. After all that work, and exhausting my most creative invectives, I’m left with a pile of meat and a pile of fat -which appear to be roughly the same size. The good news: I’m back in the stated goal range of 2.5 lbs.

At any rate, I now understand why they make this unforgiving section of meat into SPAM. I like SPAM. I especially like it fried. And from now on, I will eat SPAM like other people grudge-fuck. Payback for the two hours of my life I will NEVER GET BACK. And that stew had better be motherfucking delicious. Tomorrow. When I’m not too tired to make it after fighting a pig shoulder.

Why Kerby’s Koney Island kicks ass

Anyone from the midwest can tell you that a coney dog and a chili dog are NOT the same thing. There are chili dogs out here in Colorado but there are no coneys, much to my dismay. My mom is coming out to visit for Christmas, so I texted her to ask if she could get me a bucket of Kerby’s Koney sauce and bring it out.

There are a lot of coney chains out there and Kerby’s is just the family favorite. When  I was growing up, we lived in the city and there was a locally owned place we frequented (Pete’s!) but when we moved to the ‘burbs Kerby’s was the best choice. It’s a Michigan chain, still fairly small, but the food is always good and so is the service. Kerby’s is the place I learned to appreciate onions. Literally every trip home from college and, since we moved away from metro Detroit, every visit to my folks has been punctuated by a trip to Kerby’s.

It turned out Mom had JUST walked out of the place, so she went in to ask. They gave her the email address of some dude with the company and she sent a request because it’s not something they just sell over the counter (yes, it’s like a drug. IT’S THAT GOOD.). She’d forgotten about it until she got a phone call from an unknown area code yesterday.

Some guy from the company was calling her back about the request. I guess she’d put in the email that her daughter had moved to Colorado and wanted coney sauce for Christmas. Yes, I realize this makes me sound like a COMPLETE FREAKSHOW. On the other hand, delicious delicious coney sauce! The guy asked where in CO and actually knew where I am because he skis in Aspen. He told my mom to go to the local place, that he was going to call the manager (of the place my mom visits most often) right that after they hung up. My bucket o’ Koney sauce is a gift from Kerby’s Koney Island and he said to tell me Merry Christmas.

How awesome is that?

So Mom is overnighting my coney sauce fix and I’ll have Koney dogs for dinner tomorrow.

THAT is customer service.

Mission accomplished!

I’ve successfully made reservations for our anniversary dinner. It’s going to require a trip over to Vail, but 40 minutes isn’t a bad drive for good food. Not only that, but we’re in the off-season so we’ll be able to take advantage of some pretty sweet deals.

I’m waiting for Spouse’s new phone to arrive and then running some errands before he’s done wth work.

Have pretty much finalized house painting colors and a decorating plan for the basement. We’ll need an area rug for the kitchen but all in all we’re in good shape. The new sliding door arrives this weekend and I’ve just got to contact my guy to put it in. We’re inordinately excited about it for reasons I’ll elaborate later.

Our anniversary gifts are working out fantatsically and I’m going to update with some more Santa Fe details later.

Apparently I’m not the only one

Someone else out there is missing pączkis today! I bet I could make a mint shipping to former Michiganders all over the country! When I was talking about paczkis yesterday at work, people looked at me like I was nuts. Clearly Hamtramck has stamped its influence on even the grocery stores in Michigan, but in a way that hasn’t bled south. Too bad. Maybe if we got news coverage about it out here…

I should note that I’m not a TRUE fan because I don’t like the ones with fruit/jelly in them. I’m all cream/custard, all the way. It’s entirely possible that I should have taken Carly up on her offer to mail me some.

Paczkis are clearly not part of the Colorado tradition and there’s not really anything that’s going to QUITE satisfy my craving this morning. Probably I’ll let Doc’s take a shot at it with french toast anyhow.

Today’s plan

Much simpler than yesterday’s:

Drive to Frisco/Silverthorne and pick up Spouse’s truck accessories.

One quick stop at WalMart (WalMart! How I have missed thee!) for a couple of mats (and possibly frames).

Home to hang pictures, straighten kitchen, and generally clean house.

Excitement, right?

I think Friday’s menu is going to include Chicken Souvlaki and yogurt sauce, Bacon and Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms, and potentially (depending how ambitious I am) Bite Sized Samosas with Mint Chutney. And Sweet Potato Tarts! I almost forgot…

This morning I had a plan.

I was going to get up, drive to Avon, pick up scotch, go to Edwards, mail the Dish Network receiver, get my hair cut, and do a little grocery shopping. The thing that did not get done was mailing the DN receiver. Whoops. It was the foot of snow on my car that threw everything off – that and Spouse leaving his phone at home so I ended up detouring to deliver it.

That said, I conquered Battle Mountain! It’s a stunning (and sometimes stomach-churning, if you’re afraid of heights) drive as a passenger. As a driver, I was so worried about the road I didn’t pay very much attention to the scenery. The scenery IS amazing but I was focused on hairpin turns.

I got my hair done at Salon Axis which was fantastic. The closest salon to my house in Michigan was also an Aveda salon (ask for Amanda or Markesa) and that’s how I developed a bias. I started going to the salon when I decided I wanted a hairstyle and not a haircut, and let me tell you it made all the difference. Why do you care?

First, I am an internet snob. I googled to exhaustion attempting to find a place here in town (or close) and didn’t find a single website. Not even a FrontPage website. That’s disappointing for me, especially in a city with free wireless. As silly as it may sound, I find the internet to be more reliable than the phone book. Online I can find photos, pricing, or at least get a sense of how a business sees itself (or doesn’t). A good website will bring me to your business.

[example: great website vs. not my thing. Guess where I bought my scotch?]

Second, Aveda. I like Aveda products. I don’t find the scents to be overwhelming and – to a one – I have always found their salon stylists/designers to not only be talented, but HELPFUL. As in “Backcombing, let me show you it!” It can be pricy, but they do an excellent job with their client consults and I have never been disappointed when leaving. Today was no exception.

Third, I am challenging. I am lazy. I am not going to use much product. My hair is fine but there is a lot of it. Curling is out of the question but I’m willing to flat iron as needed. On top of that, I’ve been coloring my hair for the last six years – everything from all shades of red and brown, to a brief flirtation back to blonde, and then red and brown again THIS SUMMER. On my last stop at Shapers, Markesa knocked down the red and colored me a tone similar to my natural shade, but darker.

Salon Axis is located in the Riverwalk area in Edwards, which is a charming faux-town shopping area. Lots of restaurants and stores, but in the best possible imagination of a strip mall. It’s small, only five or six stations (if I recall correctly) but nicely appointed and with lovely wood floors. The waiting area is a bit narrow, but I always bring a book- today’s was Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book – or an mp3 player and pretty quickly don’t notice where I’m at regardless.

Kelly (my hair designer) was fantastic. Another midwest transplant, we had nice conversation about points of interest and places to visit. Most importantlyt, Kelly managed to lighten me up to practically my natural color and freshen up my style. I’m pretty fearless about my hair (which comes from having shaved my head) and was open to all-over color, corrective color, whatever needed to be done. She did the job skillfully with highlights and I love it. I also got a complimentary paraffin hand treatment which was OMG fantastic after three days of working a bar with no hand lotion.

Salon Axis in Edwards, CO

At any rate, I highly recommend the salon.

Before my appointment (I was a bit early) I had a raspberry croissant and hot chocolate at the French bakery a couple of doors down. Really, really good. I also stopped at the Village Market (in the same shopping area) before I drove home to pick up some extras for entertaining. They didn’t have Greek yogurt but they had Bulgarian yogurt and I was intrigued enough to buy it anyhow.

Main Street at Edwards, CO Riverwalk

I’m not sure if it’s a Wild West thing, but I have seen a LOT of these shopping areas in Colorado. They’re spectacular because they engender the feeling of being ‘in town’ in a really clever and attractive package. There is parking on the ‘street’ but also in underground parking garages. They’re structured in such a way that they can be expanded without losing that ‘hometown’ feeling (brick sidewalks, streets, et cetera) and don’t have the traffic of actually being ‘in town.’ They also mean a HUGE variety within a short walking distance, whereas ‘in town’ you’d probably have to drive a little ways for the same options.

I also took some Before photos of the living room today which will not be revealed until all (or a reasonable approximation) of the photos are hung.

Time to stop my rambling and get ready for bed.

Changes in altitude

One of the great things about moving to Colorado is the scenery. One of the challenging things about Colorado is the altitude. Once you get past the physical adjustments – and there are physical adjustments – you have the food adjustments.

Most high-altitude cookbooks I’ve come across are written by folk in Denver. Which is great. 5,300 feet up is definitely high altitude. I, on the other hand, am an additional 5,000 feet up. Right.

I found a baking book yesterday which I’m looking forward to trying out in the next couple of days. It’s got adjustments for folk over 8,500 ft as well as a recipe for All-Purpose Baking Mix and I’m thrilled. With a little luck, I’ll be back to baking bread and cakes like crazy!

Frequently Asked Questions – How do you stay so thin?

I get asked this question on a pretty regular basis. It’s a weird question because almost everybody has food and/or body issues and it’s kind of uncomfortable for me to talk about – in part because I’m a thin person. There are also no simple answers to that question.

1. I am a small-boned person. If you don’t believe in big bones, the next time I’m with my sister I’ll get a picture of both of our hands side by side. Frame size is not an illusion. This is not a determining factor to weight, but I believe it plays a role.

2. Yoga. I am a yoga instructor. You might imagine I do a lot of yoga. You would be right. I also jog from time to time, to mix it up. If you don’t mix it up, you get bored, you stop doing what you’re doing. Play basketball, go snowshoeing, try something outside of your comfort zone. Someone asked me today about running vs. walking. Running is harder on your joints. Check your heart rate – if you’re working aerobically in your target range, you don’t need to run. Want to get there without running but have maxed out your speed? Increase your incline.

3. Food. I’ve got a weird relationship with food – as does almost everyone I know. My relationship with food is definitely a determinant of my body shape/size.

• I’m really lucky that I’m not a stress eater. This is even more important if you had any idea what the last six years were like. I lost weight during my stressful situations. Most people (Spouse included) don’t do that. As far as I know you can’t teach it or change it. It is what it is, you just have to determine what you’re eating at that point.
• I don’t snack. I generally don’t eat unless I’m eating a meal. Sometimes the meal is small, sometimes it is large, but you don’t generally see me sitting around with a bag of pretzels on the couch and grazing. I say generally because yes, that totally does happen, it happened two weeks ago when I had a terrible pretzel yen and you can even ask Carly.
• I have an aversion to some pretty popular snack foods (potato chips, popcorn, candy) and am kind of a picky sweets eater. I only really like one kind of ice cream. I’ll eat other kinds, but I only really love one (mint chocolate chip) and you can only eat so much of one thing. This also applies to cookies.
• I eat in hella weird cycles. For example, when Spouse and I were dating he once (famously) said that he could eat pizza every single day and never get tired of it. About a year later, I got a pizza jones and we literally ate pizza every day for about a month right up until Spouse (who was not yet Spouse) said “I CAN’T EAT ANY MORE PIZZA!” The day lives in infamy. But then, once the cycle is over, I don’t eat whatever that thing is for like six months. It’s not always like that, but it’s frequently like that, and that’s part of the reason I stay physically active.
• One of my favorite books with regard to food and food relationships is The Yoga of Eating. I highly recommend it. It does not tell you what to eat, it tells you how to eat it. You might be surprised about the difference between the two. And if you’re looking to avoid fast food for a while (at least one year, in my case) pick up Fast Food Nation (the book, not the film). It will absolutely change how you think about food.

4. Genetics. More and more studies show that genetics plays a huge role in how we gain weight (and where). It’s not the only determining factor (e.g. my mother is always talking about how she needs to lose x pounds) but it definitely makes a difference. That’s not to say you don’t have any control (see previously given example) but you can be aware of your family history. You can take action.

The bottom line is that there’s no magic answer to weight loss. More than anything else, it requires lifestyle changes. Lifestyle changes are hard and people don’t want to make them. I don’t generally enjoy working out. Crazy, right?

I played sports when I was in school but when I went to college I got out of the habit. I was active, but not really active. And no one had ever talked to me about weight training. One of the things that started me with strength training was when Spouse-who-was-not-yet-Spouse was talking about triceps and I was all “Wtf?” He had me flex it, then pushed his finger RIGHT THROUGH MY MUSCLE to the bone. Lack of muscle would be more accurate. It grossed me out and I started lifting free weights. I did not love it and I didn’t do it on my own. Having a partner was key for me.

So then I got a job away from my workout partner and promptly went back to not working out. This continued into the first couple of years of marriage while I worked really high stress jobs. I bought a yoga book on the bargain rack at Barnes and Noble and started doing some stretches on my own. Eventually I went to an actual class and I got completely hooked. That’s all she wrote.

The more muscle you build, the more calories you burn, the more efficiently your body runs.