All about MEEEEEE!

Not like every post isn't anyway, but this one's even a bit more so than usual. I have been Getting Fit, you guys.

Kind of. What had happened was, moving back to the US wreaked havoc on my body. The ready availability of massive quantities of delicious fatty foods combined with living with my parents for nine months meant that I put on a size and a half. It was Not Good.

It was an interesting study of how much impact food has on my body, I will say that. From when I started at my current job in July, I have had free access to a gym and have been going 2-4 times a week since then. I also saw a trainer at another gym for three months, but gave that up when I moved for reasons of cash deprivation. But nothing I was doing was making much of a difference; or rather, it wasn't helping me lose any weight - god knows how much more I'd have put on if I hadn't been making those efforts. The weight gain was entirely down to the change in my diet.

Before leaving Sydney, I wouldn't have said that I eat especially healthily. I do cook a lot, mostly from scratch, and I'm pretty good about cooking with veggies or having salad; but I traditionally eat a lot of starchy, carby goodness as well: pasta, bread, noodles, dumplings, oh my god I'm going to cry. And while my sweet tooth isn't my biggest problem, I will snack on whatever's in the house. Basically, with food as with everything, I have no impulse control.

Moving back Stateside has made me reevaluate. Yeah, I eat a lot of stuff I shouldn't, but my day-to-day cooking and eating habits are streaks ahead of how people tend to be here. I don't want to get all 'Supersize Me' on you; it's not new territory. I'll say only that it is *amazing* to me how hard it is to get my hands on good-quality fresh food. I live in the middle of a populous residential area in the city, and it just... like, fruit and veg shops don't exist, and small markets don't waste space or money on perishables, so supermarkets are the ONLY place to get fruit and veg right now. In the spring, the weekly farmers' markets will start up again and there are a couple within reach, but for now it's so limited. And people here have become used to living like that, and a lot of times don't want to - or aren't able to - put the work in to accessing fresh food, let alone preparing it. Why would you when you can get two huge pizzas to feed your family of four for the same or less than it would cost you to buy and prepare real food for them? I'm not being facetious; if I were a working parent, the temptation to save myself the time and energy involved in shopping and cooking would be strong. Hell, I only have myself to look after and it's still hard to beat back most nights.

I realised pretty quickly after I moved to Dorchester that I was starting to lose weight, and this was clearly due to the change back to my preferred eating habits: oatmeal with fruit for brekkie; homemade food for lunch; few prepared/packaged foods; more vegetables, etc. I also found that I wasn't buying bread or pasta in the amounts I usually would, which meant that a huge component of my starch overintake was cut out. I've barely touched butter or cheese, and I've had no sweets around. I've had ice cream once since Christmas.

And the thing is, I don't really miss those things. Much. There was a day a couple of weeks ago when I'd have pushed my own mother into a snowbank and left her there for a whopper with onion rings, and the last few days I've had to tell myself out loud to keep walking past the pizza places. And having just mentioned butter, all I want now is a huge pile of hot, crunchy toast. Of course. But apart from those very intense moments, it's actually fine. It's good. I've been lunching on Sophie's Magic Veggie Soup for the last few weeks, and loving it; I'm cooking a lot of casseroles and stews in my amazing Colombian clay dish (and speaking of magic, this thing... I swear, I could throw a pile of old newspaper in it, simmer for three hours, and end up with a dream of a meal); I'm playing with food again and loving it.

This has spurred me to rededicate myself to the gym. I'm going 4-6 days a week now, and have been since before Christmas. I've actually fixed my work schedule for this semester so that I can take a 2-hour lunch break every day (except Thursday) and go to the gym then, because the gym doesn't open early enough for me to go before work and if I leave it to after I just won't bother. It's not what I'd call fun, but I'm hitting the awesome point where I'm really starting to see a difference and that's encouraging me to keep at it. Today, for example, I noticed that my ass is moving back up my body and I'm starting to be able to see muscles under the mess that is my thighs, and that was all I needed to go a bit harder. I'm now into jeans that are two sizes smaller than what I had been wearing, and while they're still not *quite* as comfy as I'd like, the size up has become unflatteringly baggy so the smaller ones it is, and in a few more weeks I expect that they'll be fitting perfectly. Ideally I'd like to come down another size before US summer, and I think that's achievable if I keep this up. Mind you, Sydney's likely to bump me back up - you can't eat laksa and pies every day for three weeks without feeling some effects - but I'm okay with that. I'll fix it.

Of course, all this having been said, you-all might not notice any difference in me when I get there because as I said, the bulk of what I've got rid of so far is what I put on since I moved. But that shouldn't stop you telling me I look great. :)


XOXO