Summer is right around the corner. Bathing suit season. Conference. Shorts. Lots of opportunity to show off skin...and those pounds I managed to put on over the winter. Please tell me I'm not the only one who's suddenly gotten a dose of fear along with the warming temperatures.So. Yeah. I've started on a diet. And an exercise routine. I'm cutting calories and trying to get more time in the gym. I'm attempting to use the elliptical in my bedroom for something other than a clothes hanger. I've started setting my alarm thirty minutes earlier hoping to use that first rush of energy to kick butt instead of waiting until my day is at an end and I'm already exhausted.
It isn't working very well. So far, all I've managed to do is extent my use of the sleep button on my alarm clock.
So what does torture have to do with this? I mean aside from my hours at the gym. Well, along with the constant gnawing pain of hunger I've become addicted to the Food Network. Challenge, Chopped, Dinner:Impossible, Throwdown, Chefs vs. City, Alton Brown, Chef Duff, Guy Fieri... I could continue on and probably list every show and talent on the channel. I'm starting to get worried.
I'm not a cook. When forced I can find my way around a kitchen. I have a few dishes I can make when necessary, but my idea of fending for myself is pulling through a drive-through. So this sudden fascination with watching other people cook - and cook gourmet - puzzles me. Most people watch these shows to learn something. I really think I watch them to torture myself. To see all the yummy things I really can't eat. I suppose it's a lesson in discipline and denial. If I can survive watching someone prepare creme brulee without breaking down and visiting the kitchen then surely I can avoid the brownie I really don't need the next time I'm out.
Maybe.
So, anyone else on a summer diet? Do you watch cooking shows? What's your favorite? Do you watch while you're hungry? Any tips to losing weight quick?
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9 comments:
I have long been a "Coke-a-holic", refusing to drink diet sodas. Then I had an epiphany - I was gaining weight but not really eating that much. I quit Cokes cold turkey, switching to their new diet soda. I have so far lost about twenty pounds! I still eye those little bottled Cokes with lust-nothing tastes better!
I like to watch Ina Garten's The Barefoot Contessa, Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals and Paula Dean'c Cooking with Paula.
All of them create delicious looking meals that don't look too difficult to make.
Diet tips: drink lot's pf water all day long.
Don't deny yourself anything...you'll just want it more and then feel guilty.
Pickles, carrots, lettuce all freebies. I also eat as many tomatoes, grapefruits and oranges as I can. I like all 3.
I am fascinated with crime dramas but I don't kill people. So I don't think there's any correlation between enjoying cooking shows and actually cooking.
No tips for quick weight loss, alas, as I'm in the same boat. I've been doing research and have decided my weight loss last year was shock loss -- I simply couldn't eat. The weight gain this year is stress gain. Stress raises your cortisol levels, and increased cortisol increases your appetite and causes weight gain in the abdominal region. That's moi!
Somebody shock me again!
My HS reunion is in six weeks. Hello, my eating disorder.
I've lost quite a bit of weight and I'm rather proud of myself, but now comes the "tone it up and keep it off" stage. That really sucks, because I feel that if I've lost five pounds I should celebrate with an ice cream sundae!
The more I diet, the more I watch Food Network. I know every show, every host. I've seen pretty much every challenge and know who won. Its my favorite.
But oddly, it rarely inspires me to cook or eat. Maybe the cake decorating, but for the most part I just find it interesting, like PM and her murder shows (which I also watch).
I can spout diet tips all day long. What do I follow? Sigh... none.
I managed to do 20 minutes on the elliptical this morning...I wanna know when the endorphins are supposed to kick in.
Instigator
I love watching the Food Network! Every now and then I get a recipe that actually looks doable in the real world, and I try it. If the guys eat it and it wasn't too tricky to prepare, I add it to my repertoire. 30-Minute Meals, Iron Chef, Chopped, Next Food Network Star and Secrets of a Restaurant Chef are probably my favorites--although the TV channel usually winds up on Food Network when I'm channel surfing.
I'm on a quest to lose weight, too. My doctor finally recommended that I lose weight this year. I've gained a lot over a couple of stressful years--food is a comfort to me. If I have the time to do it, I enjoy cooking--kind of like a science experiment--but if time is short, as it often is in our busy lives, then fixing meals can be an exhausting chore and I wind up fixing (or picking up!) whatever is easy. But even though I've wanted to lose weight for a couple of years now, I needed the doctor to say something before I took it seriously.
I'm discovering it's much easier to up my exercise (more yoga/stretching and walking)than it is to cut down/cut out my comfort food. Sigh.
Good luck with your quest!
I am with you on the Summer Panic.
I gained 15 pounds the first semester this year and have struggled all winter trying to lose it, again.
I don't watch the food network much but I have noticed that many people at the gym seem to watch it as they work out.
Maybe we could get a federal grant to study the effects of watching Food Network on weigh gain/loss.
I bathe in the nude. This has gotten me into trouble a time or two, but nobody notices unsightly flab when there is an obscene pickle dangling-a-ling.
I watch too much Food Network. My family has even started refering to their new favorite dishes by the originating show.
My diet is whole foods. Nothing processed, no drive-thru and one 6oz serving of meat per day.
Quickly losing weight is easier than you may think. You just have to decide that you want to suffer from salmonella poisoning, and ingest some raw chicken. You'll be shedding pounds in about 36 hours.
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