exercising things and eating things

[tielan]

I want to improve my ability to run, and I need to improve my diet.

I've started on the 'couch to 5K' program - 3x a week for 30 minutes (week 1) which is manageable. Also doable because we had hockey yesterday, but nothing this week because this coming Sunday is ANZAC day - kind of like Memorial Day or Remembrance Day - and it's a holiday on that day (although we don't get a Monday long weekend; I don't know the reason, there's some peculiar calculation in Australia regarding phols and which ones transfer to the next working day and which ones don't) so we don't have a game.

So I have 10 days until my next exercise. And I really need to do something before then. Plus, I'd like to improve my endurance for hockey this year. Particularly if I'm not just playing on the wing (I played in the inner position this week, and was down in the halfback line last week; if I need to work myself up to more running then now is a really good time to do it).

On the eating things front, I've been eating sugary foods because they're easy and tasty and convenient, particularly during COVID and with everything I'm doing. However, it's terrible for my health - my cholesterol is dangerously high, and my blood sugar is higher than it should be. Plus, both heart failure and diabetes run in the family with age. Then, there's the issue of me utsizing my clothes. This is a PITA because I hate buying new clothes and am prone to wearing things until they fall off me or can't be fixed/patched/mended/jerry-rigged.

That said, the extremes of the diets that we've done in the past (Dukan in particular) will be really unhelpful at this stage of life. Yes, it worked for us but it was gruelling and emotionally exhausting and a lot of it was fuelled by the energy and efforts of the parentals, which we don't have anymore. Plus, the Dukan goal is weight loss as an endpoint, not the development of good habits. Plus, the sacrifice is pleasure in food - one comes to think of carbs as Utterly Evil which isn't helpful. Are carbs too easy to come by in our society? Absolutely. But they're also useful for energy, cheap to produce, and a caloric source that shouldn't be ignored. Plus the kind of high protein diet that Dukan recommends is mostly animal products which I'd like to reduce as much as possible.

But frankly I have no idea how we're going to do this. I have some energy to cook but not enough to make as many meals as I'd like. We don't have enough freezer space in which to store boxes of frozen foods, and although B1 would like to lose weight (her specific goal), her interest in anything 'healthy' that I cook is extremely limited. I can make 'healthy food' but if it's not familiar she won't eat it; I'm the only person who eats it until it's gone off and only fit for the chooks. For her, takeaway is easier and simpler. Less effort. Which I understand, but also am frustrated by: eg. I bought a (very large) steak which I ate over the course of two meals. I left a little for lunch today, but she ate it last night.

There's some local guys who cook meals. They do an ordering service, which is pricey, although hardly unaffordable for me, but the issue is then sourcing of ingredients, and packaging.

And so it goes, around and around and around in my head with no end. *sigh*

I think it helps when I eat less though - and more proteins so I'm not as hungry. I didn't eat much yesterday, mostly because I was out and about and too busy to eat, and when I got hunger pangs (in the middle of a hockey game of all times) there was no food available. There's something to be said for not having the time/space to feed yourself, as compared to sitting at a desk and having sweets and carbs to hand...

Anyway, lots of thoughts and intersections of health, energy, convenience, and expense.

It's Monday morning (for a little while yet) and I'm so tired...

Comments

[ladyjax]

I hear you about the convenience of take away. Sometimes it's easier to have someone else do the cooking. I have to plan what I get because delivery charges here are basically highway robbery, so sometimes I'll call in an order and ride downtown to pick it up. So I get exercise in which is a win.

I'm having to shift my red meat consumption because of pre-cancerous polyps that were removed during my colonoscopy last year. I can have it but now it will be a treat. I'm slowly branching out into trying things like tempe and tofu but it's slow going. Mostly it's discovering what textures and flavors are appealing.

[tielan]

It's so much easier to have someone else do the cooking! Especially considering we don't have a dishwasher so all dishes need to be done by hand. And B1 doesn't cook, unless it's vegies (which she boils) and while we love vegies, she hates chopping them up - health issues again.

We also love tempeh and tofu, but actually buying them and using them takes us out of our comfort zone.

[rmc28]

What are Australian grocery stores like for pre-packaged ready meals? We've fallen into a habit of getting these a LOT during the pandemic - primarily for the children because the intersection of "food they will eat" and "food the adults have energy to make" was not high. I do sometimes eat them too, if I just need to eat some food and am too tired to figure out what to have. They're a lot cheaper than takeaway (£2 to £3 pounds per portion, depending on what we get and what offers are in play), but require only reheating in a microwave, and are generally sensible-sized portions and reasonably balanced nutrition-wise.

[tielan]

There's a wide variety of instant meals available, of varying levels of healthiness. But for me the issues are mostly preservatives and packaging. I do have a couple of 'microwave meals' which I save for when things are dire and I really Cannot Even. I don't usually eat the whole thing when I'm having a microwave meal or takeaway - just half of it. But I try to save that for occasionally rather than regularly.

It's just so tiring to care.