Over the past few years I have had an experience that changed my life. Being a new teacher in Canada right now it is not the easiest of careers, unless of course you don't mind not having a job. So after graduating my husband (than boyfriend) and I decided that the overseas option was really the best one for us....Hey how about China?!? Sure! Why not?! Let's go!
Three years of teaching in Southern China changed the way that I looked at the world, at my career and also at myself. Jumping on a 18 hr flight wasn't that big a deal anymore. Having to push and shove your way onto (and off of) a subway was just how you got around. Getting my food brought to me covered in oil was just the way that things were done. Yet a strange thing happened. One day a good friend of mine was over and, looking at one of the photos of myself and my friends that I had on the wall, he commented on how much weight I had lost since coming to China. WHAT?!? But the food here, while it may be fantastic (and I am talking some of the most amazing food I have ever had!), it is covered with oil and grease! I am eating more rice every day than I did in a month back home in Canada! But he was right. Somehow (and I am still trying to figure it out) I lost at least 2 dress sizes without realizing it.
Now I am not a big person to begin with. Being 5'9" and weighing about 165 or so when I went to China, coming home at 142 was awesome. But than I came home. And the weight started again. Very small amounts but I have only been home for just under a month and I am back up to 148. Too much yummy food I haven't tasted in too long! lol But the last thing I want to do is put back on the weight that the mysterious "China Diet" had taken off. So here I am.
My husband has been telling me for years that I should start doing some exercise to stay in shape and to help with the depression and anxiety that has been plaguing me for longer than he has known me; and now that we are getting ready to start a family, the doctors are saying the same. Well, if I am going to do it, I may as well do it right. And that starts with the food going into my body, as well as what I do with it.
I love to cook, but have always been more of the "that looks good, but what if I did this to it.." kind of chef, so I never have any idea what cal/fat/sodium, etc is going into what I eat. And my idea of dieting was always, eat less and more salad, but all this gives me is a rumble-y belly (which wakes me up in the middle of the night to sneak some chips and dip) and a husband who doesn't want to talk to me. My goal is healthy, yet filling meals that fit within a 1210 cal (for me) and a 1400 cal (for him) diet that isn't going to have us running back to the fridge for more in an hour. Oh, and tasty, tasty food. Can't forget that!!
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