6 posts tagged “diet”

Skinny Bitch

Kim Barnouin

What exactly is losing weight the right way? Recently, I came into a set of books. With my cousin moving away, she was tossing out a lot of her books, and before doing so, she let me raid her bookcase of the books she was not taking with her. One of the books that came to me was Skinny Bitch. I really didn't know what the book was about when I took it, but I picked it up the other day and started reading it. Turned out it was a diet book about the "proper" way to lose weight.

It covered things like what to eat, what not to eat, mentality, exercise and what not. It included topics such as organic food, trash for the body, and what a person could do to change their lifestyle, which would lead to weight-loss. It's not a bad read, but I don't know how much of it I agree with, or even believe. Although they do promote a balanced diet, and shoot down such fads as the Atkins Diet, some of the stuff they said were not all that practical, whether it be for financial reasons, or simply because the food they ask for are not necessarily available in places outside of major US cities.

Now, I really don't want to give away too many details to the book, so I'll stop here in that regards. But I seriously wonder about all the books that are out there that talk about dieting, and all the fad diets that are present in our soceity. What is it about us nowadays that want to be skinny? What is it that makes us want to subject ourselves to crazy diets, depraving ourself of food, etc? And why is it that what we love to eat make us fat?

Things I Loathe:

• Being really hungry.
• Not being able to start my Slim-Fast/Veg diet because I didn't have time to go to the store to pick up some Slim-Fast & Veggies.
• Going to Costco and not being able to buy bocconcini because the box was too big for me to eat by myself and no one else eats it at home, so I'm stuck!
• Clients forgetting to call, assuming they called, and then dropping off their kids at my doorstep.

Things I Love:

• Coffee!
• Having dinner with my grandmother, uncle & cousin almost nightly. Makes for great conversation and a wider variety of food.
• Sleeping in on the weekend.
• Family friend visited on Sunday - dinner and a birthday celebration!
• Being able to leave work early yesterday! Thank you supervisor!

So at the end of June, I had wondered whether my diet was a success or not (but it's not really finished either... it's an ongoing thing). Well, earlier in July, I found out that it was! It was a success! The True Religion Jeans that I had bought last summer, would not fit me earlier this year. But now, they fit again! Yes! I'm so happy that they fit again because they certainly weren't cheap, and I'd only worn it that one summer. I can wear them again! Yay!

So I've been on a diet for two weeks now... eh, really? The first week, I was really quite disciplined, having salad for lunch every day, and a portion controlled dinner. Then Friday, June 15, it all went out the door. I attended a charity event (more about that later) and had a huge banquet dinner. After that, Saturday I went out to see Ocean's Thirteen, and went to TGIF's for a burger... more of the diet goes out the door. This past week wasn't too bad as I had salad most days (or forgot to eat altogether), though admittedly, I had a breakfast sandwich for lunch 2 days in the past week... and today, again, out the door. Family friends arrived from Toronto and we went to pig out. *sigh* I need to keep being more disciplined, at least the days I'm at work and not stray from those salads. (More details to come... too tired right now. Will edit.)

Avocado & Egg Salad

Okay, I'm now into day 2 of my diet. So far, so good. The first day, I ate the Teriyaki Chicken Breast Salad as I'd described in an earlier post. Unfortunately, there's no picture of that as I completely forgot to take a picture yesterday and just dug in. Today, I actually remembered (but it's a crappy picture considering I used the camera on my cellphone). I made the salad a little differently compared to yesterday, so I wouldn't be eating exactly the same thing all the time. Instead of chicken breast, I had egg (as protein), as well as avocado (in place of the tomato). The avocado wasn't so great because it wasn't really ripe. Note to self: don't buy Mexican avocados. Other than that, it wasn't too bad. I'm still pretty disciplined but it's only day 2. I did have a non-fat vanilla latte today at Starbucks, so I'm sure that threw the diet for a loop. Oh well.

Crispy Salad

Well, it's the summer... and I've been finding it difficult to eat carbs at work for lunch/dinner. So today, I went to Costco and Save-On Foods and picked up some ingredients for salads - organic salad greens, Kraft Calorie-Wise Zesty Italian Dressing, tomatoes, avocados, lime, teriyaki marinated chicken breasts and soft unaged goat cheese. I've already prepped some of it for tomorrow. The only thing I haven't prepped is the avocado and goat cheese. The salad greens are in a container, tomatoes in a second, chicken breasts are cooked and sliced. I'll finish it off tomorrow before I go to work. Hopefully, this will help me shed some pounds and keep them off because I swear, the rice (carbs) is killing me in the weight and size department. I can't fit into my True Religion jeans that I bought last summer. *cries* My goal is to get my ass back in those jeans. But will I succeed? I honestly don't know as I don't have much time for exercise either. *sigh* (For now, an iStockphoto - maybe tomorrow, I'll take a picture of my actual salad).