Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Commentaries, calories and sex

Okie, this post is to the lovely commenters on this post, because I think it's fa...aarrr too long for a comment in itself.

Gehan, I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm so vertically challenged, I look as if I've been stepped on. :) Happily, this meant I never went through the phase that a guy trying to make eye contact would end up instead with an eyeful of my bust. So 50kg is an extremely reasonable target. PR you have a point as usual... us doctors are suckers when it comes to their own health and you're spot on with both the health risks and the genes.

First to the genetics. Obesity runs on both sides of my family. My mum's mum was significantly overweight, and my mum manages to keep to her ideal body weight because she's careful of what she eats. Four of my father's sisters are even more significantly overweight. Family gatherings often have a side conversation of "you're fatter than me" "no Akka, YOU'RE fatter than me". It gets tedious sometimes.

That said, I have been balancing nicely at my ideal body weight (50kg) since I was about 16. It fluctuated between 48 and 52, but was mostly stable. Internship played hell on my diet; because of all the rush I never ate on time and rarely ate healthy. During the latter months of slog, the three of us in the unit would collectively guzzle coke, minute maid and milo and munch on chocolate fingers or biscuits while writing BHTs or discharge tickets. There simply was no time. to eat healthy. At the end of that period of hell, I was so overjoyed with having reasonable hours that I went to town in the kitchen, but my culinary skills did tend towards pasta oozing with cheesy sauces.and salads dripping with mayo. My dear friend C nearly got me addicted to guava juice generously spiked with raspberry flavoured absolut. Two trips to Singapore and one to Malaysia (hey I deserved a break!) didn't help either, especially with me wanting to sample all the street food.

So I ended up gaining about 7 kilos over 2 months and a further 3-4 kilos over the next 3 months.

That said, my usual diet is very healthy. Green gram or chick peas (no coconut) for breakfast on weekdays, milk-rice and bread on weekends. Red rice and 3 vegetables for lunch, plus a green vegetable. Chicken during weekends, eggs once a week. I don't eat fish or more importantly, shrimp, prawns or cuttlefish that are chock full of calories. Rice flour hoppers/string hoppers or thosai for dinner, noodles /pasta once a week. The only fruit I like are bananas, so about 2 of them per day. Two cups of tea per day, one teaspoon of sugar. Coffee on weekends.

Like I said, that is my usual diet. But... I have a weakness for Fab pastries; I attend workshops frequently and eat at hotels (the food isn't always brilliant though); ditto for meetings, which also have generous refreshments. My worst tendency though is that I turn to food for comfort... when I'm sad or lonely or tired or bored or frustrated. The past few months have been particularly painful and angst filled. Misery, thy cure is food.

So I ate... burgers from Burgers King, whole portions of pasta as snacks, pastries and sandwiches galore, french fries, twix, dairy milk, pringle's potato chips, fruit yogurt - and more meat than was good for me or my conscience. My portion sizes grew bigger and bigger because my whole system had rewired itself to consuming more. I reached a point where I easily could (and often did) out eat my husband AND my brother.

My mood of tragedy and woe has lessened somewhat, not because things have improved, but because I've found ways to deal with them. Some ways aren't very wise, but we'll leave that murky kettle of fish for later.

So I have tailed off on the binging, and am back to my nice healthy diet. But I'm stuck with this stubborn weight and flab that is so horrific the mirror cracks every time I stand in front of it. It makes poor financial sense as NONE of the saree jackets that fit last year do so now and existing clothes show off rolls of fat. People think I'm pregnant and offer to send around more food.

CJ, thanks for the supportive comment, but this is just to shed the unnecessary, excess fat. Then I go back to my sensible, everyday diet, which gives plenty of lee way for the odd cafe mocha or pizza when I'm out with friends. if this fails (there is a good chance it might) I shall take you up on your offer.

Hisham, this one is for you.

Calories burned during sex*

* Disclaimer : none of the data in this site has been (ahem) independently verified...
:)



15 comments:

PseudoRandom said...

Aney darling :-) (I don't mean to be patronising - that's just what came to mind when I read this :D )

OK so considering there's obesity in the family, there is a valid reason to want to maintain a healthy weight. Your 'usual' diet looks really healthy! Although perhaps the kiribath/bread combo for bfast might a bit too much, considering you're also having rice for lunch?

That said, I think a large portion of your excess weight probably comes from your 'occasional' pig-out sessions at the workshops! And no amount of cutting down on your normal diet is gonna compensate for lapses in willpower. Unfortunately I don't have any quick-fix willpower boosters :-(.

As for turning to food for comfort...I guess it's just a case of finding a different outlet. A lot of people turn to exercise. I turn to chick flicks. To each his/her own.

Er ok once again I've had some form of verbal diarrhoea with this comment. Sowwy! I hope you manage to get to your target weight, but don't try to shed it all at once...crash diets rarely work (or so I'm told). Good luck!

Sabby said...

LMAO at the sex link! :D

Anyway, I have had a problem with my weight for God knows how long so trust me, I understand where you are coming from. The unhealthy song has been sung to me couple of million times by friends and three times a day by the mother but it's not that I am arrogant and don't want to listen to them. I am sensible enough to know they are right but stupid enough to want to lose weight.

When I went abroad and lived alone (In Malaysia, so you KNOW about the food yea?), I gained weight like mad. Over and above all scales and etc. But during the last year of my degree and after a messy break up, I decided to lose weight but in the unhealthiest way possible: yes, starving myself. Ate once a day, early in the morning. Drank the rest of the day (mostly water but also the stray fresh juice etc) and six months and multiple blackouts at random places later, I was down 20 kg. I was overjoyed but I couldn't really celebrate because I had gotten that weak.

Till about three months ago, I had gained about five kg back and I decided to do something about it and this time, something not so extreme because I was living with the parents and they would never let me starve myself like that. So instead I cut out chocolates, lots of dairy (except the elephant house vanilla milkshake bottle which i can't resist), all sorts of soda and junk food. I also started working out at home for about 1.5 hours every other day and dragging a friend out jogging when I can. All in all, I lost about 7 kg in three months.

Granted that it's more tiresome and takes up much more time when you exercise and watch what you eat instead of cutting off food completely, but it's worth it because you not only lose weight and get healthier but you get toned at the same time. I even got some abs in the making.

Make some 'you' time, Angel and do this for yourself :)
Looking forward to hearing about your progress! :)

Hoot-a-Toot said...

Good luck with your diet . I am still laughing after reading that link on sex and loosing weight and sent it to all my friends :P

Hisham said...

hahahaha... see... =P

Anyways I think what happens is when u start to eat large meals your stomach expands.. but then when u eat small meals its never enough since ur stomach has already expanded...

Gehan said...

oh that short huh? :D lol sorry.. so with u i spose u went thru the phase where when a guy tries to make eye contact he gets the empty space above ur head? :D lol..

that link is HILARIOUS!!!!

~ lo$t $oul ~ said...

If ur proportante and u've got urself a healthy diet, whats there for you to worry abt? and if ur burning the calories according to the chart, then u've got nothin to worry abt i wud say.. :)

hehehe good luck with ur diet..doc.

Angel said...

Darling PR : You weren't being patronising and everything you said made perfect sense. I know, my usual diet is stellar :) and I don't have kiribath and bread at the same time, kiribath on Saturday and bread on Sunday. It's just that my usual diet is perfect "maintenance" with enouygh leeway for the occasional binge. If i can shift the excess I can go back to that, without getting cellulite nightmares etc! :)

Sabby : thanks for all the tips and woo hoo for your weight loss! the problem is I rarely take dairy (a teaspoon of powdered milk twice daily can't count) and never drink fizzy drinks and rarely eat chocolate. So I'm kinda at my wits end!

Su : thanks!

Gehan : you are spot on, lol

Lo$t : aiyo, i have lost the proportionateness! Trying hard to get there!

Jack Point said...

Exercise, exercise and exercise.

Diet in isolation is only half as effective.

Join a gym, lift weights, do some cardio. Remember, you'll be helping others as well, we are starved for girls in gyms.......

The Puppeteer said...

Well I guess once you get into the groove of dieting AND exercising (essential combo), it gets easier.
Good luck! :)

Knatolee said...

You're killing me... you only like bananas? You live in a country with all the tropical fruits I love (papaya, pineapple, mango, etc etc)! :) You have better bananas, too, because they are not shipped to your country all rock-hard and green and flavourless!

That said, good luck with the diet but don't starve yourself too much!!

Knatolee said...

PS: In my humble opinion, exercise only works in the long-term if you can find something you truly enjoy, that doesn't feel like punishment! For me, that's walking the dogs, kayaking, riding a bike, and snowshoeing and skiing in winter, although I have to admit I used to go to the gym and I really like gym classes!

Also I love yoga,which I think is in no short supply in SL. :)

But it all gets harder when it's too hot to exercise outside!

~ lo$t $oul ~ said...

I'm tagging you on this - http://brokensouline.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-world.html :)

Sakunthala said...

hey, Im so in you shoes!! You have no idea the stuff I've tried to lose weight, including, yoga which worked (I was too lazy so stopped). my target is also 50kg. And I dnt know why, because Im vegetarian people think I should be thin. Hello! right? Thinking of taking up swimming. Can't go on diets. LOVE food too much. :D

Angel said...

Sigh... I have no idea why stubborn weight refuses to budge. I share your passion for food and this regimen is WAY too hard right now!

Gypsy said...

Have you tried Atkins? It works like a charm if you do it properly but it's not terribly healthy.

But, being the queen of fad diets (since I was 13), I have now settled on something long term and hopefully nurturing and fulfilling. Yoga and the diet that goes with it - a lot of veges, a lot of grains, fruit, nuts etc. Natural and healthy. I blogged about it, in fact :)

Hugs and good luck.