Day 23.
I think we've turned a corner in terms of my Hub's eating. He was in the kitchen, making himself a little pita snack before bed (supper wasn't enough, which I'd warned him about, but he's still working it through in his brain... hey, at least he ate), and he started justifying the food out loud. "You eat six times a day, right? I mean, I only see you with three or four of those, but you do get a morning and afternoon thing, right?" I blinked at him and he continued, "You are so scamming me on the food. You eat twice as much as I do, and you're a girl, and you're on a diet. This is so not right. I need snacks, dammit."
It appears to be sinking in. My Hub and I have this pattern in which I info-dump on him until he signals that he's full up, then he stews and chews over the information on his own. This most often ends with him making some kind of abrupt decision. Apparently he's finally weighed all the evidence-- my increased energy and pep since I started BFL being the biggest-- and concluded that he needs to eat more regularly. Which is all I really wanted at this point, so bravo.
Today, I think I got our oatmeal right. (Not enough water yesterday. Oops.) I put a teaspoon of natural peanut butter in mine, at least a tablespoon's worth in my Hub's, and stirred 'em. Once I got back to my office with oatmeal in hand, I stirred in some chocolate protein powder. Not bad, not bad at all. My Hub actually exclaimed, the next time I saw him, "Hey-- that oatmeal was pretty good!"
He's also fond of the Golden Pancakes from the EFL cookbook. Since tonight's dinner is going to be staggeringly easy-- turkey sloppy joes, the filling of which I've already prepared, and salad-- and since the sloppy joes will also be tomorrow's lunch, and since tomorrow's dinner will just be steak (mmm, No Name petite sirloin!)+ egg noodles + asparagus, I'll have cooking time to spare tonight. I think I'll make a batch or two of those Golden Pancakes and bring them to work along with one of our many things of maple syrup.
Knock on wood, if I can get him eating regular healthy meals, this could boost his energy. He'd feel better. This would be very, very good for its own sake. I refuse to look further than that; granted, I'd love to have him geeking out over the healthy lifestyle thing the way I do, but there's no pushing a fandom on someone. Fandom, whether it's for a television show or a sports team or a product or a religion or a lifestyle, is something that has to lure you in. If it takes, it takes; if it doesn't, it doesn't. Either way, my Hub will still be eating regular meals of higher-than-average nutritional value and his health is bound to improve. Ergo, the odds of me getting to keep him around longer are improved. These are very good things.
I really did a number on my legs on Sunday, and I'm proud of that. There's this continuing process, for me, of figuring out that half the things I've said "oh, I'm just not flexible enough for that!" have been only halfway a flexibility issue, and that the other half has been strength. Squats may have been (er, are) damn near impossible for me because my hamstrings were (are) so tight, but also because my quads are a lot weaker than I thought they were, and my hip flexors and my abs. God help me, I'm using the things I learned from yoga to improve my performance with weights-- how to listen to my body, how to suss out where the problems are, how to slowly improve them. And how to breathe, of course. I'm starting to think that possibly yoga and weight training are highly complimentary and that I need to find time to fit yoga back into the schedule, lest I lose what precious flexibility I have.
In other news, I came out of the closet re: BFL to my regular set of friends. This went about as well as could be expected. Several "whatever's good for you, go with it," a "I clearly think you're crazy, as I am wedded to WeightWatchers for life, but if it makes you happy, whatever," and a backhanded "oh, good for you, I know people who do that plan; they eat weird-ass combinations of food that don't seem like meals, and there's that protein powder thing, and how they ever find the time to do the meal prep I don't know, and it would NEVER work for me because" blah blah sis boom bah.
It may be proof positive that I'm a hopeless optimist that I had, prior to outing myself, thought that perhaps there would be a bit of "hey, there are some points there I could use"... but of course, the reaction to the weight-lifting and cardio and emphasis on protein is pretty much what I figured it would be. (Which is just this side of "my God, have you joined a CULT?") Strangely, I got a much better reaction from my vegetarian best friend and my vegetarian sister, both of whom know well the importance of protein.
Oh, well. Good things happening with my Hub, so there's that. I just gotta get used to this thing where I'm all by my lonesome on these things in my circle of friends.
It appears to be sinking in. My Hub and I have this pattern in which I info-dump on him until he signals that he's full up, then he stews and chews over the information on his own. This most often ends with him making some kind of abrupt decision. Apparently he's finally weighed all the evidence-- my increased energy and pep since I started BFL being the biggest-- and concluded that he needs to eat more regularly. Which is all I really wanted at this point, so bravo.
Today, I think I got our oatmeal right. (Not enough water yesterday. Oops.) I put a teaspoon of natural peanut butter in mine, at least a tablespoon's worth in my Hub's, and stirred 'em. Once I got back to my office with oatmeal in hand, I stirred in some chocolate protein powder. Not bad, not bad at all. My Hub actually exclaimed, the next time I saw him, "Hey-- that oatmeal was pretty good!"
He's also fond of the Golden Pancakes from the EFL cookbook. Since tonight's dinner is going to be staggeringly easy-- turkey sloppy joes, the filling of which I've already prepared, and salad-- and since the sloppy joes will also be tomorrow's lunch, and since tomorrow's dinner will just be steak (mmm, No Name petite sirloin!)+ egg noodles + asparagus, I'll have cooking time to spare tonight. I think I'll make a batch or two of those Golden Pancakes and bring them to work along with one of our many things of maple syrup.
Knock on wood, if I can get him eating regular healthy meals, this could boost his energy. He'd feel better. This would be very, very good for its own sake. I refuse to look further than that; granted, I'd love to have him geeking out over the healthy lifestyle thing the way I do, but there's no pushing a fandom on someone. Fandom, whether it's for a television show or a sports team or a product or a religion or a lifestyle, is something that has to lure you in. If it takes, it takes; if it doesn't, it doesn't. Either way, my Hub will still be eating regular meals of higher-than-average nutritional value and his health is bound to improve. Ergo, the odds of me getting to keep him around longer are improved. These are very good things.
I really did a number on my legs on Sunday, and I'm proud of that. There's this continuing process, for me, of figuring out that half the things I've said "oh, I'm just not flexible enough for that!" have been only halfway a flexibility issue, and that the other half has been strength. Squats may have been (er, are) damn near impossible for me because my hamstrings were (are) so tight, but also because my quads are a lot weaker than I thought they were, and my hip flexors and my abs. God help me, I'm using the things I learned from yoga to improve my performance with weights-- how to listen to my body, how to suss out where the problems are, how to slowly improve them. And how to breathe, of course. I'm starting to think that possibly yoga and weight training are highly complimentary and that I need to find time to fit yoga back into the schedule, lest I lose what precious flexibility I have.
In other news, I came out of the closet re: BFL to my regular set of friends. This went about as well as could be expected. Several "whatever's good for you, go with it," a "I clearly think you're crazy, as I am wedded to WeightWatchers for life, but if it makes you happy, whatever," and a backhanded "oh, good for you, I know people who do that plan; they eat weird-ass combinations of food that don't seem like meals, and there's that protein powder thing, and how they ever find the time to do the meal prep I don't know, and it would NEVER work for me because" blah blah sis boom bah.
It may be proof positive that I'm a hopeless optimist that I had, prior to outing myself, thought that perhaps there would be a bit of "hey, there are some points there I could use"... but of course, the reaction to the weight-lifting and cardio and emphasis on protein is pretty much what I figured it would be. (Which is just this side of "my God, have you joined a CULT?") Strangely, I got a much better reaction from my vegetarian best friend and my vegetarian sister, both of whom know well the importance of protein.
Oh, well. Good things happening with my Hub, so there's that. I just gotta get used to this thing where I'm all by my lonesome on these things in my circle of friends.
posted by Meg at
8:25 AM
5 Comments:
Heh...I'm glad to hear that your husband is starting to see the light about the # of meals he needs to take in given the decreased calorie count of each BFL serving compared to standard meals. I've been working on my boyfriend in the same way--prepping healthy stuff to eat without making a big deal about it, but it's tougher since we don't live together. I'll feed him healthy BFL lasagna at my place, but he eventually goes home to his three male 30-something housemates who live on Coke and pizza.
:-S
With regards to being the lone BFLer in your circle--is it really that big a deal? Nearly none of my co-workers or friends does the 6 meals a day, cardio/weights thing, but I can't say that it bothers me much. (There are exactly two people besides me in my company who lift, do cardio, and eat at least 5 small meals a day. They are both male, and I wouldn't say that either of them are close friends.)
And I don't consider consuming protein powder any more esoteric than oh, tallying up points for every bite that goes into my mouth for the rest of my life.
;)
By
Anonymous, at 8:22 PM
Well, I actually think it's great that you found something you like and that is working for you. And it's cool that the hub is getting into eating healthier, too.
I hear the words "protein powder", though... and I think "ew". LOL - no offense meant. Just the reaction I have to it.
And Maggie, counting points isn't normal? Really? Because at this point (heh, no pun intended), I think I was counting them in utero. :P
By
Anonymous, at 8:35 PM
I remember how people at work looked at me strangely when they saw my meals and were worried that I was becomming too obsessed with lifting etc. when I did BFL but I felt much better and that is what mattered. I know it would be better if you had a support group, but you kind of do, online! :) I'm happy that your husband is seeing the light as well with his eating.
By
theaddict, at 10:01 PM
Maggie-- yeah, I know, it doesn't really matter that I'm alone in this. I just have a very low tolerance for being misunderstood, which doesn't do well with the fact that I suck at explaining myself (particularly when I feel a bit unsure about the response). I end up wanting to beat them all with a shovel instead of having the patience to explain, correct, and inform... gah. I need to work on that.
Mae-- I think what Maggie means is that to the "normal" individual, who doesn't think of weight loss or fitness, that counting calories (or Points) and protein powder are pretty much identical on the weirdness scale.
I know what you mean about protein powder, because that was my initial reaction-- but the more I looked into it, the less I could figure out why that was. Protein is filling, and whey extract is insanely lean (and easier to sneak into recipes than, say, chicken); I'm actually kind of surprised in retrospect that it doesn't get more cred in weight-loss circles. I wonder if that's because there's confusion between protein powder and the "bulking" kind?
Ms. Ralph-- you've got an excellent point; I've got GREAT support here online. I guess it's just my way of mourning the fact that there's yet another thing that my friends and I don't have in common.
The weirdest part was the repeated refrain of "but you don't need to lose any more weight!" Graaaagh. I feel like I'm talking in a different language these days when I say things about building up muscle and cardiovascular health and changing my body composition. I'm starting to theorize that crossing over from the weight-loss mindset into the fitness mindset is as big a change as getting into weight-loss mode in the first place. This is HUGE. And again, I see so little about it out there... so, so weird.
By
Meg, at 7:55 AM
Meg, I think that protein powder doesn't get a lot of recommendations because of the kidney-problems stories that have been floating around forever - most people who are adequately hydrated and don't already have kidney problems won't have a problem with "concentrated" protein like this, but most people don't realize that. I've had friends ask me why I'm trying to bulk up. Eh.
Just like nobody wants to come right out and say "Hey, knock off with the sugar and fried foods, you fool," it's hard to find a health authority figure who'll speak up about the effective use of protein supplements - and say that they're not just for bodybuilders.
By
Anonymous, at 1:22 PM
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