I don’t have to get on a scale to know that I have gained weight during the past few months…

I feel blah…and if you feel blah about your body image it’s hard to get past anything else…

So I decided to do a cleanse of sorts. Not juice- I know green drinks are all the raise but unless it’s a shamrock shake I’m out… But I am eating many of the foods that routinely go into said smoothies… (on a side note- when I think smoothie I think strawberry and yummy- not beets…)

Apples. Cucumbers. Spinach. Kale. Celery. Parsley. Carrots. Beets. Lemon. Ginger. Tomatoes….

I like all of these foods. These are normally things that make it into my shopping basket and I happily walk home with in my disposable bag…

And these things do make you full. I prepped all my food for yesterday into slices so I could just eat some when I was hungry, and I didn’t even eat all the food that was supposed to be for one day.

So hunger wasn’t an issue yesterday.

I didn’t wake up hungry.

But I didn’t feel satisfied yesterday…

You know what it’s like when you’re eating but don’t get to the satisfied point, right?

But anyway…

See- I really like food. I love the mingling of tastes on my tongue. I love trying new spices and herbs- testing different levels of flavor combinations. I really enjoy cooking- looking at a recipe and deviating from it makes me happy- (note- I am normally a follow the rules sort of person except in the kitchen- in the kitchen it’s pandemonium…)

So reducing my calorie intake….

bleh…

So how to I reconcile my ever expanding waistline with my love of food?

I don’t know- I’m still trying to figure it out…

I know we’re supposed to be happy in our bodies, but what if we’re not?

Does anyone ever feel good about being too thin, or too thick, too tall or too short? Too busty or too flat chested? Curly hair or straight? Grey hair or whatever?

How many people are truly happy with the reflection that they see in the mirror?

I know all the buzzwords we are supposed to tell our kids- focus on being healthy- focus on the way your body does what you need it to do…

But do all these positive messages actually mean anything, or are we just trying to convince ourselves that what we are is enough?

Well…

I’ve got to go have my apple now…and then I have to buy carrots and beets because they are supposed to flush out my colon or my kidneys or some other organ…

But all I’m looking forward is Thursday when I can put a little EVOO and  vinager on my veggies…

 

 

62 thoughts on “The Quarantine 115”

  1. I like Paleo style diets. Less carbs (but not eliminated completely) and more greens, veg. The protein helps me stay satiated for longer. Also, try Intermittent Fasting. Stop eating at dinner, wait as long as you can next day to start eating, then eat something with protein so that you stay satiated a bit longer. Today I have leftover salmon. I’ll dump an egg on that and maybe some greens. That will hold me till later afternoon/dinner. I may snack on berries in between.

    It hasn’t reduced my weight gain, but it has halted it from gaining for several weeks now. This is encouraging. 🙂

    Next step for me is increase exercise.

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    1. Part of my problem is boredom. I’m just tired of not having anyplace to go. Stores opened yesterday and I spent an hour in Barnes and Noble. It was delightful…

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  3. I’ve been using positive affirmations. I feel better about my body. I’ve noticed when I let go of whatever fear I have in my body I pee more. Youve been through a lot in these last couple of months. Be gentle with youraelf.

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      1. I totally get it. These least couple of months have very difficult and emotional for me. I’m hoping now with Father’s day over and things settling down I won’t be so emotional. I hope things are settling down for you too. ❤❤

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  4. I would like to use the quarantine as an excuse for my weight gain, but sadly I think I was gaining before. I can make plenty of excuses. Weather not conducive to walking my 2 to 3 miles, I am eating less(maybe not the right stuff), I love baking and can’t stop at just one or two cookies, etc. I am sitting down this week and looking at my diet and lifestyle as I will be 61 in a few weeks and this can’t go on. My son will be getting married next year and I do not want to look like this in pictures. Yeah, I know that is vain, but if it helps me to be healthier than who cares. My health is my top priority and with that my feelings about my appearance, so a good hard look at my habits is in store this week! I don’t do diets because healthy eating is and should be a way of life not just to lose weight and go back to the old ways. Good luck and know you are not alone. If you want to try a good website for tracking calories and such go to sparkpeople.com

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    1. Thanks for the tip! You know I read something that the wedding of their children is the biggest reason for middle aged women to lose weight. And the vast majority of them do….so vain or not…it works…

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  5. I’ve definitely used the quarantine as an excuse not to make the best choices. Perhaps I have used food as a way to nurture myself and deal with stress during a difficult time at work.
    Unfortunately I have been having some stomach issues that have probably been exacerbated by too much of a good thing.
    I’ve never been completely happy with my body–one would think that for me personally, I would be better motivated to take care for it if I wasn’t happy with it as is.

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    1. I was all about comfort eating for me as well. I just ate what I liked…which was not a great thought pattern. I need to reverse the pattern. I’m just not sure how

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  6. After losing the 60 pounds I’ve really hit a plateau. It has nothing to do with Corona quarantine because I was always home anyway. It’s time to step up my game with the exercise and look at my numbers again. Intermittent fasting is helpful. My downfall right now is nuts.

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    1. My downfall is everything. For me it was the whole thing…no gym…limited food in stores…relying more on processed foods…depressed at the situation…boredom…everyone in my house all the time…just compounds…

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  7. I am feeling better lately with my extra exercise but I have a long road ahead to lose weight that has added up over years. Now I need to pair my exercise with better diet choices hence no more ice cream in my freezer,and no candy, and maybe I will cut out chips or by half. oy vey.
    Fortunately I love eating salad and can eat that every day and I just finished making one for today – my wife began and I finished the chopping of vegetables. I also went out yesterday and bought high end oil and vinegars (it was crazy in there like 50 flavours of everything) and I bought Wild Fernleaf Dill Olive Oil and Sicilian lemon balsamic Vinegar. I know how I think, if I invest in more expensive runners I will walk and exercise so last week I bought a really nice daypack to get me out hiking even more. This week non supermarket oil & vinegar ($$$) to get me eating even more salad. I have a long track to get to my goal weight wise but working on it! – David

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    1. My biggest problem with walks are lack of bathroom facilities….nyc is notoriously bad about not having enough public bathrooms, but add to that everything being closed….nightmare….

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  8. I can’t eat fish as a leftover easily but I keep it simple. Sometimes I don’t eat enough calories to burn which is also concerning. Tonight I am making chicken and mashed cauliflower following keto. Exercise was had by myself and the husband in the garden today. Maybe a nice long walk on the empty avenues. Driving is now a pleasure.

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  9. I have been eating a LOT more comfort foods over the past few months. I seldom eat chips but have been going through a bag a week! That’s crazy. I really do not enjoy cooking at all. Hubby is very picky and has no ambition to try anything new. I like most food but it is only when we are having company that I enjoy preparing it.

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    1. Chips are my downfall. I love them and it’s been so easy to pick up a bag and nosh. I think I ate more chips in three months than I’ve eaten in 10 years!

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  10. If you take all of those yummy fresh veggies that you listed (add cabbage), put it all into a pot and make the soup from the Cabbage Soup Diet (forget the diet part – impossible to stick to), you get a delicious and different tasting meal. It stores fairly well so you can eat it whenever you feel like a nosh. I’m telling you now – when the urge to eat chips hits, there’s nothing you can use for a substitute. But if you buy the variety bags (18 1 ounce bags per package) and stick to JUST ONE (or part of one), you don’t feel as deprived as if you used the word DIET. Nothing puts me off a diet faster than knowing I CAN’T have a particular something.

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    1. I know! Chips are perfect and nothing else will satisfy. Have thought about putting my beets and carrots into air fryer and trying that…. remember the cabbage soup diet….ugh….

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  11. I’m fat. I’m unhealthy. I avoid reflections whenever I can. But I’m not going to add to it by being unhappy. I lost weight before lockdown by cutting carbs and snacks. I’ve put it back on by comfort eating. I enjoyed the weight loss and I enjoyed putting it back on. I’ll just have to start again.

    Good luck with your healthy eating, but please be happy. If life has taught me anything (and I’m not a quick learner) it’s that being fat is better than being depressed. Eat less, laugh more and have some ice cream. 🙂

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    1. Well you’re right about that…fat is better than depressed any day. And I’m never going to be thin. I feel uncomfortable now…which is my biggest issue

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  12. I’ve gained weight. My pants still fit, though. Kind of. And oddly enough, I like my body. When I hit sixty I stopped agonizing over pounds lost or gained, my sags and bags. I am so grateful just to be here.

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  14. I’ve just been to my six monthly medical which I was dreading. Was sure I was going to get a lecture about weight gain, increased sugar and blood pressure. I feel blobby and haven’t had a hair cut since December. Guess what? I’ve lost weight, and all figures are down.I know that I’ve had more comfort meals but mostly using fresh vege and herbs from the garden. Yet I still feel blobby. Maybe its the need for a good haircut?

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  15. When you get this figured out, let me know. You’ve just described me to a t. For the first 40 years of my life, I never paid any attention to this stuff, because my job is physical and I would burn it off. the last 20 years not so much. I love chips too….I’m not obese, but would love to shed about 10 to 15 pounds. I appreciate your transparency yet again. Take care. DM

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  17. I can only speak for me 🙂 I’ve gained 12 pounds since March 15th, which is the day I started to shelter in place. I think for me it has to do more with the fact that we had various stress items occur in that time frame that had nothing to do with Covid-19. I’m an emotional eater – who happened to suddenly be a few feet from the fridge all day. I felt good about my weight before the 12 pound gain happened. I wanted to lose another 7 lbs, but I was happy. (I’m 5’2″ tall and now weigh 134, but I used to weigh 122 lbs last March, and wanted to weigh 115.)

    I don’t believe that I should be happy in my body when I’m overweight. The reason for this is that weight gain for me, at least, is not healthy. My cardiologist prefers a lower weight, and for good reason. I have heart disease and diabetes in my family. So yup, I can listen to all these people who say, “Oh you should love your body no matter what shape it is, blah blah” … but no, I don’t believe that I should love my body when it’s not at its healthiest weight. If health issues are not an issue for others when they are overweight, well then, I guess they can love and accept themselves no matter what their shape or weight.

    Good for you for starting to eat healthier!!

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    1. I get not feeling good about your body for health reasons…I know my doctor is going to freak whenever i can get back to the doctor…

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  18. For the past 9 months, my diet tends towards plant-based. I upped my exercise the past 2 weeks with Beachbody on Demand & I’m down 2 lbs per week. Today’s menu: overnight oats w/roasted coconut, nuts & fresh fruit for breakfast. Lunch is a salad w/scoop chix salad. Dinner was some homemade chix rice soup with a small roasted veggie w/hummus wrap. 2 snacks of fruit. It’s a bit more meat than usual. If I want some comfort food or sweets, I have to make it from scratch which leads to me deciding it’s not worth the effort. LOL. Exercise really broke my rut. Good luck!

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  20. I gave up meat for lent and lost weight. While it was hard at first after a bit I got used to it and found myself eating more tuna, beans, etc. Find something that clicks for you and you’ll get there. I wish you good luck!!

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  22. Ooh I love all the foods you’ve listed! I too have not been eating the healthiest these past few months ugh and have def gained weight. I think having a negative body image is one of the hardest things to overcome and I’m still working on it…a constant uphill battle. I worry that my self esteem will plummet if I can’t lose weight after I eventually get pregnant.

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    1. Body image issues suck. And most of us are plagued with them….I wish I had a good life lesson for you except eat healthy and exercise. I know it’s trite, but it’s the best I’ve got. I think you’re a beautiful person if that helps at all! And strong and courageous for knowing you struggle with this.

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  23. I’m with you. I’ve complained about my weight gain (from my pregnancy, but it’s STILL THERE and I feel fat!) and have had people say I need to be happy with who I am. I am not. I am fat. I am not happy being fat. This is sounding like an adult’s version of Dr. Suess.

    I think, though, that there is some fun and variety in diet foods. I’ve been doing no sugar or bad carbs and have actually been having fun looking up recipes or inventing my own within the parameters. Thank goodness for seasonings, right?

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  24. I keep telling myself to stop eating but it doesn’t work. I don’t think I’ve gained anything through all of this but I also haven’t lost what I already needed to lose. I try to accept that this must be the way I’m supposed to be but I don’t like it. Yet I do nothing about it. I keep eating all the wrong things. Good luck with your diet.

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    1. I’m done with the cleanse portion. I admit I slept better while doing the cleanse, but I don’t know if that was just the absolutely no caffeine thing. I feel a little lighter today, and just going to take it one day at a time and try to eat healthier. One of my problems is that with my husband home there is just so much more accessible junk that I don’t normally keep in the house. I’m going to try to keep celery around as a snack when I need crunch. So hard…

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      1. I know what you mean about having your husband around. I try not to blame my lack of willpower on him but he’s definitely an enabler. I don’t feel he should have to go without but it was definitely easier when I lived alone and could keep the “bad” things out of my house.

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