Conner's Blog

Let me start off by saying that I hate the concept of dieting. Diets can be good for some people, but usually only work for as long as they are on them. What you need to sustain your weight is a lifestyle change, and those are hard.

What does that have to do with me? Well I was doing really well at this time last year. I was the skinniest I had been since high school, felt great, was starting to move down to pants sizes I barely remembered. Then I moved into Minneapolis, my social life expanded, and I fell right off the exercise bandwagon. I didn’t notice it at first since I wasn’t weighing myself and I thought all the walking I was doing would keep the weight off. I was wrong.

This weekend I got on the scale for the first time in quite some time, and I was appalled. I weigh almost 20 pounds more than I did when I first moved to Minneapolis. Now, part of the problem is going out way to much, part is portion control, and a good part is a lack of exercise. These are all things I am aware of and can fix if I put my mind to it.

The problem is that I want to lose those 20 pounds at an accelerated (yet safe) rate. So I’m putting myself on a diet. First of all, I’m going to bring back the no-meat pact that I made in September, only instead of no meat for an entire month, I’m going to stop eating meat during the week.  This means that from noon Sunday (come on, you have to have bacon at brunch), until Friday at dinner time, I will not be eating meat. I’m going to start eating more beans, more dairy, and other alternative protein sources. Secondly, I’m going to avoid eating pasta for the entire month of February (an exception will be made for Mac N Cheese tour). This is going to be one of the toughest challenges for me.  I love spaghetti, ravioli, and every other type of pasta you can think of. It’s my go-to main course and I think that has to change. It just has too many carbs and I tend to eat way to much of it. Hopefully forcing myself to learn to cook alternative dinners will help me expand my cooking horizons and help me cut back on the amount of pasta I cook once February is over.

So I’m technically putting myself on a diet, but I consider it a short term solution with what I hope are long term implications. I think reducing my meat intake to 2-3 days per week will be huge, and of course broadening my cooking horizons will be a fun adventure. I intend on raiding the Minneapolis Central Library for cookbooks this weekend.

Finally, I have joined a gym, and my friend Nicky will be making me go until I start making it a habit. Of course I have been going three times per week without much effort since I joined two weeks ago. I even went to Cycle to the Movies on Saturday and biked for a hour and a half. This is the really important step because I don’t want to have to limit what I eat forever, and I know that once I get myself to where I want to be again, if I keep exercising and eat a reasonable diet I can keep it there.

I had a great discussion last night with Sarah and Amanda regarding many topics. From politics, and living without a car, to food we had lot of interesting talks. During the course of the discussion, we discussed the word “foodie”, and a person who used the word “eater” to discuss a certain set of people.

The word foodie is coming under fire.  I don’t disagree with these people, but I did use it recently and I defend myself by saying, “What other word should I use.” Then there is “eater,” this was kind of a dumb term because essentially all of us are eaters.

So I decided to define a few terms to use when discussing various forms of pickiness. We need some terms and definitions for talking about this stuff, and if no one else is going to take on the challenge, it may as well be me.

• Food Snob – Someone who turns their nose up at anything not made to their specifications. They wouldn’t dream of touching a sloppy joe, unless it was made with sliced Kobe beef, all organic tomatoes, and simmered for at least 25 hours.
• Picky Eater – Someone who is unwilling to try anything other than what they know, or refuses to eat a certain type of food for reasons other than health/allergies.
• Foodinie – I herby retire the word foodie and replace it with foodinie. These people go out of their way to try new things. They probably have a favorite class of food, such as street food or tapas. Very little is out of bounds. That being said they usually have a certain standard such as no nationwide chains, and may focus on things such as local and sustainable as much as possible.
• Eater – This term is dumb, we are all eaters as described above.
• Foodster – Nothing your mother would cook is good enough. Basic lasagna is boring and is only edible if made with homemade noodles, morels, tempe, and at least 40 types of local cheeses. Different from a foodinie because a foodinie just appreciates good food, whether simple and common or exotic and complex.
• Nosher – This group will eat anything and isn’t concerned with anything other than filling their stomach. They probably appreciate a good meal, but don’t enjoy it much more than they would a microwaved quesadilla.
• Locovore – Eats locally produced food as much as possible.

So what do you think? Any other definitions you would include. Are you satisfied with my definitions?

I turn 27 today, and though I know it’s not really old, for some reason it kind of freaks me out. I think it’s the realization that I’m so close to 30, again these things are not important and it’s all in my head, but still.

In honor of my irrationality, I’ve decided to post one goal a day for the next five days.  These goals are things I want to accomplish by my 28th birthday. I hope that by putting these out into the public eye, I’ll be able to accomplish them.

Today’s goal isn’t new, it’s something I’ve been working on for the past two years. I want to continue to eat better and exercise consistently. Last summer I dropped quite a bit of weight, was good about eating correctly, worked out 3-4 time a week, and was feeling good going into winter. Winter was a different story though, I stopped going to the gym, started eating more junk, and not watching my portion sizes. Sadly, these things continued into the summer.  I finally got back on the scale a few weeks ago and it was not good. I’m by no means huge, but I’m not where I want to be, both for my own personal image but also for long term health.

To remedy this, I’ve started tracking calories again to help keep my intake in check, stopped eating meat for the month of September, and started working out again. I started the 100-pushup program last week, and am adding the 200 sit-ups and 200 squats programs this week. I’m also trying to bike at least 10 miles 3 times a week. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track by the time the weather turns and I will be able to hit the gym consistently.

My goal is to make these things a habit and not a challenge by the time my 28th birthday rolls around.  It may not be easy, but it will be worth it in the end.

Over the last 18 months or so I’ve made some good changes to how I eat.  I rarely eat processed foods, I eat a lot more fruits and vegetables, and generally keep my diet varied.  One change I made, almost without trying, is limiting how much meat I eat.  I try hard to buy local meat which necessitates lower meat consumption and I found myself eating meat at every meal less often.

A few weeks ago I got on the scale for the first time all summer. My thoughts “….ummmm….what happened….I….wow”.  I had undone all the good from last summer and then some.  I still felt healthy, but it was a wake up call that eating healthy doesn’t mean I can eat as much as I want and that without some form of vigorous exercise I can’t maintain my weight.

So I made the decision then and there to do a few things.  One, I’m getting back on my bike.  As much as I love biking, I have put it off this summer in favor of reading, photography, and cooking.  Second, I’m keeping a food diary again.  It’s what got me where I was last summer.  Keeping track of what foods you eat and having to see your calorie intake is about the only way I know to control my appetite.  I also decided to try something new this time.  I’m going to try and be a vegetarian throughout the month of September.  It’s day eight and I’ve done pretty well so far, though I unintentional cheated once so far.

Thankfully I have a huge network of resources to help me with recipe ideas and protein replacement ingredients.  If nothing else it will give me a better understanding of what those who choose to not eat meat at all go through everyday.  I’m not doing that though, and expect to cook up at least a few pieces of bacon on 10/1.

I started the summer weighing185, and now weigh 172.  Three simple steps that have made a big difference in how I feel.

1. No processed sugar; no soda, no candy, no high fructose corn syrup.
2. No white bread, only whole grain high fiber bread
3. Eat Yogurt, stick with plain yogurt and add fresh or frozen fruit

Of course exercise is important to but those three things have definitely made a difference in my energy level.