From Mum, originally uploaded by snapperwolf*.

A herbal concoction from my mum to cure my cough. Bless.

Stracotto e Polenta, originally uploaded by snapperwolf*.

]]> http://noodlebowl.net/2008/06/stracotto-e-polenta/feed/ http://noodlebowl.net/2008/06/the-simple-equation/ http://noodlebowl.net/2008/06/the-simple-equation/#comments Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:00:19 +0000 sue http://noodlebowl.net/2008/06/the-simple-equation/ I am a serial dieter. As an atypical dieter, I get very enthusiastic and excited for the first few weeks and when success starts to show, I start to get jack of it and need to inhale my body weight in wontons. For the last10 weeks or so, I have been on yet another diet. It has been surprisingly easy to stick to and the weight is staying off for now. What’s different?

Food: I am using a food diary and getting weighed in at a formal session once a week at work.I have not changed my diet significantly. I still eat carbs(see south beach diet dalliance), meat(see brief vegetarian conversion) and drink alcohol(in moderation). The difference is I don’t eat as much of everything as I did. And unlike other diets in the past, I do still go out to restaurants and eat more than just the virtuous green salad whilst desperately eying of the salt and pepper calamari later to explode in chocolate caramel ice-cream, 2 dolmades and last night’s leftover moussaka straight out of the freezer at 11.32pm. Now I have what I want within reason - so grilled calamari on salad with some stolen husband chips. I still satisfy my taste buds but am learning that I don’t need to eat the whole giant squid double deep fried and 1 bottle of white wine to myself to feel satiated.

Exercise: The gym was boring me and I just wasn’t going. So I’ve mashed it up a bit. I now do a fitness session twice a week locally in the park to get some cross training/weights, jog the bay once a week and walk the dog everyday. The Ultimate Frisbee winter season has started and when its not rained out, I run around madly chasing disc. I enjoy my exercise now and when it starts to get boring again, I know I’ll need to change it up. Best of all, I don’t feel the guilt of not going to the gym and it doesn’t at all feel like drills on the prison treadmill anymore.

I get knocked down, I get back up again. Sing it baby. There will be laspes.  For example, this weekend we had a lovely mini break in Bundanoon and I retreated to bad old habits of focusing on what I could possibly fit in and eat in 2 days! Say hello to my old friend/foe Hot Chips. So yes, the weight has crept up but I am back to normal eating and exercise again. It will come back down again.

Its that simple equation of calories in and calories out that has beguiled me over the years. I do have to make a conscious effort and each day is a negotiation. Yes, I  can go out to Vietnamese but I will only have 1 spring roll and I won’t eat all the noodles in the bowl. I know there’s a birthday dinner coming up so I better increase my exercise this week. Its a compromise but the benefits of being healthier and lighter far outweigh it.

I just hope at this, the 11 week mark, I don’t suddenly fall under a mack truck of wontons.   And if I do, I will get right back up and at em.

Tetsuya’s Signature Dish, originally uploaded by snapperwolf*.

Transient beauty

Art on a fork, perfection

Bliss. Tetsuya’s…done.

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