Well, its that special time of year again. That time when hopeful Americans are off to the gym or the pool or the trails or the bikes. Whatever their hopeful choice of exercise–they’re there. It makes it very inconvenient for me at the gym for a week or two 🙂
Even I am not immune from this exercise boost. I didn’t really slow down in my exercise, except for Christmas Eve and Christmas day, but I did play a little fast and loose with the sweets, starting at Thanksgiving, and going straight on through my birthday season and ending at Christmas. I found, once again, that I cannot have sugar on a regular basis. It always leaves me wanting more, even though I don’t feel as good when I am eating it. So the day after Christmas, all the leftover goodies were either given away, thrown away, or put safely in the freezer.
Since then I have been (relatively) sugar free. Three days after Christmas I weighed the same thing I did before Thanksgiving, so I kinda think I didn’t actually gain any weight during that extended time of indulgence. But, my weight is still at the higher end of where I like to stay, so I am being very mindful of my food choices throughout the day. I started using Loseit to log my food again. I think its the most user-friendly site–its actually fun to log my food on it.
I also went to the grocery store and loaded up on vegetables. That wasn’t even my original intention when I went to the store. Its just what I naturally gravitate to when I want to eat healthier and lose a little weight. I made this Vegetable Tian that Lori talked about. Oh my goodness, this is so yummy. A little higher in calories than just plain vegetables, but you can have a nice sized serving for 140 calories. Isn’t it pretty?
And I have been mindful of getting in a good amount of exercise each day, whether at home or at the gym. I don’t exercise to lose weight (although I think that wishful thinking is always there.) I exercise to keep my metabolism working, and to remind me what is important to me (living a healthy life,) and honestly, I exercise to feel good. For just a little bit after each exercise session, everything seems to work a little better 🙂
Mr. Monk has a hard time exercising nowadays. A friend of my mom’s gave this doggie stroller to her, and she passed it on to me–we took it out for a spin yesterday.
debby weighs in 
I totally understand letting go of the extras and just feeling better, which is what I’ve done over the past few days as well. We had our last holiday party on Friday night and I’ve been on the straight and narrow so to speak.
That tian is the same one I made a while back, except I left out the tomatoes because Mr. Helen doesn’t care for them. I love that it has potato and green veggies so it’s like a complete side dish!
You’re in the right mindset about exercise (at least according to that nutritionist I’m working with). I’ve been there ever since I realized that I just feel better when I exercise, weight loss or not.
Happy New Year!
I was a little worried about the tomatoes, but decided to try it. I enjoyed them a lot.
Your tian is beautiful! I have a post ready to go on making this dish, but I will have to point people to your picture! 😀 I think the potatoes make the dish.
Precious Mr. Monk and his sweet new ride! 😀
When I try to cut vegetables up thin, and make nice arrangements, I think of it as my substitute for all the baking I used to do. Its just fun.
I love the photo of Mr monk and his buggy
I was just telling my running club peeps about that vegetable tian on Saturday! I’m going to make one this week – it looks sooooo good!
Agree with you on the reasons for exercising. It always makes me cringe when someone says “I burned XXX calories on the (whatever) machine, now I can eat” – um, nope. At least not for me. It’s just a healthy thing to do.
Mr. Monk in the stroller got an audible “awww” from me this morning. So cute. Is the Queen jealous? She might not have realized it, but she DESERVES to be carted about like the royal lady she is!!!
Well, you know, the trouble with the stroller is, I don’t think I can manage it with 3 other dogs on leashes at the same time. And totally–I was wondering if Sophie would prefer the stroller to walking on the cold ground! I think I’ll give her a try today. There’s room for two in it, for sure!
Oh that veggie thing is so good! Yesterday I had it with a serving of my Spaghetti sauce on top of it–total yumm. And I forgot to mention, the only change I made was to cook the onions in spray oil, and then drizzled the tablespoon over the veggies afterwards. And I didn’t have mozzarella, so I just used a little more parmesan.
Thanks for the tip on the onions! I didn’t realize the recipe called for mozzarella and was just planning on using Parmesan, so it’s good to know that’s what you did and it turned out so well. Interesting idea for the spaghetti sauce topper – you are very inventive with food!
I have no problem with sugar and/or sweets. I can have cookies, donuts, etc. in my house and never give them a glance – salty foods though? My crack! Chex Mix, potato chips, pretzels. I am going home tonight and throwing all the Chex Mix out that’s left, just to be safe – if it isn’t in the house I can’t eat it! 😀
Awww how adorable is Mr. Monk in the stroller!
It’s not just Americans who do that, Dutch people have the same attitude in the new year. I don’t belong in a gym but I spoke to a colleague of mine yesterday who was complaining that she can’t park her car at the gym, her favorite spot will be gone in the gym and it will be crowded for the next 2 weeks 🙂
Pingback: Great Veggie Experiment: Vegetable Tian | Finding Radiance
oh that STROLLER.
we had one for the doodle pre-parvo vaccine as well and he loved and KIDS loved to come up and chat him up.
xo
Ha, I just got back from my quilt retreat and found the copy of that tian recipe which I printed out before I left. I’m going to add the ingredients to my shopping list right now after your additional recommendation. I need some healthy yummies post retreat. (Someone brought a treat that I could NOT stay away from, so I need to focus on being vigilant now.)
Those darn retreats! That is EXACTLY what happens to me–I just can’t stay away from certain things when they are left out day and night. I swore off going to any more women’s church retreats because of it.
Did you have a good time otherwise? 🙂
Oh, it was wonderful! This one is actually at my friend’s house. The power went out but no worries, her sewing room (with individual space for 6 machines and 3 irons, computer, printer, etc.) is on their automatic generator, so we didn’t notice. How many retreat houses can boast that kind of backup system? LOL. I made a lot of progress on a paper piecing project.