We often have a terrible relationship with our weight. We're too fat, too thin, our weights on the wrong part of our body etc. How much does your weight bother you?
Please don't post your weight, numbers can be triggering for people with a history of disordered eating
I too, am according to labs, 100% healthy.
I realized when I lived in a walkable city, with public transportation, within riding distance (bike) to my place of employment it was really easy to keep active day to day. I would walk to the grocery store, ride my bike to my friends house, walk to the corner store, ride to work, constantly outdoors in my city. I kept fit doing nothing else. No gym, no going for a run just for the fuck of it, just daily life.
Since moving to the burbs surrounded by stroads with no walkability, my weight slowly peaked to where I am today.
I still, lol, have bitched about this so many times, including to my doctor, I am still angry that my favorite grocer is .6 miles measured directly from my front door (through wild woods and swamp/river there is no path). Instead, I have to take a highway to get there. There could be a walk way from my trailer park full of old folks and families to the store, a bridge over the river, its more a stream. But there's not, you must get into a car and drive a highway to the next exit.
Absurd.
I cannot discount this car centric part of our daily life has a massive impact on our weights and activity levels throughout our lives. I dont want to run around my boring neighborhood with no shade or crosswalks, just to get sweaty for "personal gains". Personally, I need more purpose than self care. I want to have it built into my life.
Thats the easy fix. But it's not so easy, I can't move, and my opinion here is in the minority amongst my community.
I'm going to have to start walking/running more in my stupid boring neighborhood because now in year 4 of being a sahm, I never leave my 1/4 arce lot anymore.
I feel like a failure everyday. Just know you're not alone.
Hugs, I can totally relate to that. My kids are in elementary and I spend soooo much time in my car. In some ways, my car is a bit of an introvert sanctuary; I can always retreat there when I need a break from helping at their school or work or whatever. But I eat so many meals on the go, in my car. I don’t walk enough.
I also don’t like cooking. I don’t like to spend time making food so I find myself reaching for easy things, and often easy = frozen or takeout. I also have a sweet tooth. I know weight is made in the kitchen so a more active lifestyle probably wouldn’t be enough, even though it’d be a huge step in the right direction.
I keep basically no ultra processed food in the house. Sometimes there are cheese its/pretzls or cheap bread for the kid's peanut butter and jellys. I don't eat it. Its for the young man and the old man I live with lol
Sweets I have to make myself. I can cook. I only bake once a month or so. Every fucking meal in this house is prepared by me.
Did i make homemade beef and bean empanadas? Did i fucking use 250g of butter in the dough? Did I fry the bitches in grapeseed oil? The fuck i did and I ate two of em for dinner with guac.
I take my coffee black, sometimes with a gram or two of sugar, but not everyday. I drink water. I fry shit in oil like once a year. I make salads with olive oil and lemon juice dressing. We eat mostly chicken, I have beans, a recipe that keeps em vegan, rotating in my house for me. I lay off salt. The only chips you'll find in my house regularly are toritilla chips for salsa because its a good snack for the boys in my house. I snack if fucking baby carrots. I found keeping an open bag of baby carrots on the top shelf of the fridge makes them an easy target for the snacking urges.
I've learned to not shop the middle isles at the store. If I was a dessert I have to spend 1-3 (or more) hours in the kitchen working for it. Mediterranean salads are also really popular in my house. Roasted chicken, roasted broccoli, roasted all the veggies tbh.
Im still fat. I'd have to starve myself to lose weight without activity. That's not healthy. Active lifestyle is healthy, and for me, plays such a larger role in my weight than food. I am far more muscular than most women I think on average and need to use my body. I watched some landscapers doing some hard labor the other day and I want to do that. Let me get paid to dig dirt, Ill do it, might die, but I'll do it. Men are favored for these jobs. I've worked them before but I have to beg to be hired. And now, fat chance in hell they will give me a shot being an older gal.
But I hate working out to just work out. I miss having a social circle who liked hiking because nature is cool. And I hate that lonelyness keeps me home. People used to be like, "hey come on lets go!" And I could protest, I dont want to and they would say "nonesense lets go!" And we'd go. I need external motivation more now than ever. Maybe I'll piss myself off enough to make action.
These conversations are helping. I had a goal to get fit again by 40. Im a few months into being 37. Idk man.
I want walkability for myself, and for our future generations so they dont have to own a car if they don't want to. The US can do better, especially where I live in New England. We have the density to make it worth it. It's going to take such a long time though, I doubt to see a less carcentric culture form within my lifetime.
Anyway. I followed this woman's recipe for the empanada dough. I dont speak hardly any Spanish but was able to follow her technique, with only help with google translate to find out how much manteca (butter/fat) to use as I was halving, .. halfing.. cutting her recipe in half. I was really proud of my empanadas the other day anyway lol empanada recipe
And this is her charros frijoles recipe which I make but skip the meat. I always have some on hand for when I dont want meat. Charros Frijoles
Am I in love with this woman who's name I don't even know? About as much as I am in love with her outdoor kitchen, yes.
I cant help but to see all the things she cooks, yet, she's a healthy weight. Outdoor living man, makes an impact. If you can't tell I hate diet culture and car culture lol. Its frustrating because we can do better and yet society in the states is not set up to favor humanity as it stands today.
"Your fat because you eat like shit" doesn't cut it for me. It's foolish.
Thank you, it helps to hear this perspective, truly. The food thing is really hard for me, but I also know that the only times in my life that I was able to keep to a plan was when I was walking regularly as part of it. That’s when I saw results. I couldn’t keep up with a weight-loss plan unless I was taking regular walks. I’m trying to keep that in mind as I reset lately. Your words make me feel like it’s the thing I should focus on the most and honestly, it’s easier than the food part for me so why not try it? And stop beating myself up over food.