My Little Gloji

OOPS! I’m currently laughing because I burned the split peas I had dutifully soaked overnight and was going to turn into split pea soup. This beats crying over having burned them by a mile, but I think I should open all the doors and windows now, turn our air purifier on, and make something else – preferably something I’m less likely to set fire to.

Update: I decided I was highly unlikely to set fire to a Japanese takeaway. It’s quite encouraging that it’s taken me a whole 36 days into doing Gloji to consider having takeout. It was nice to eat at the time but left me feeling a bit polluted… mostly by the aubergine, which instead of being cooked had been murdered horribly. When I cook aubergine, I sweat it first with salt to stop it absorbing oil; this thing was more like it had been drowned in it. The sushi and the Agadashi Tofu were nice though.

I do not feel good after eating that. Tomorrow’s another day though. I’m drinking water and dealing with the regret. The split pea saucepan is having an overnight soak – only time will tell whether it survives!

Pilates demonstration for PJ accomplished, also cleaning and disinfecting of exercise mat so that he can use it too, if he likes. I was greatly amused by the names he gave to some of the movements I made, which included: ‘superman arms’, ‘dead bug legs’, and ‘Angel of the North’. I also noted, while Pilates-ing, that we really need to vacuum under the sofa.

As I understand it, Pilates might increase the amount of muscle I have but not, according to Zara, in any way I need to be concerned about (i.e. I won’t turn into Arnold Schwarzenegger). I’ve heard it can change what size your body is… there’s a cartoon somewhere of someone queueing up for their Pilates class and they’re holding a leotard to change into – the person at the desk is saying to them “You’ll need something in a size 6 to wear home”. Of course I can’t find the cartoon online and have likely just sucked all the humour out of it by describing it – but I did find “Pilates? – I thought you said Pie and Lattes!” instead. 😀 Any road up, my post-breakfast waistline is currently 97cm, so let’s see how that goes.

You probably don’t want my rant about BMI’s validity as a measure of health among the general population* so let’s just say my waist being about half of my height is something I would vastly rather aim for than my weight having to fit within a range.
*(The BMJ did a sound job on it in 2010)

I may need to re-think this idea that lentil chips aren’t addictive.
I may also need to stop pinching food from the grocery delivery that PJ requested for himself. I had another fruity teacake (not photographed) and now there are only 2 left in the pack. I did share the soup I made with him though. I’ve also offered to demonstrate my Pilates routine so he can see how it’s done, in case he’d like to strengthen his core. I plan to do it slowly – I’ll call it Chill-ates.

Just like the demo client I put on our work database, I am very much Gladys Friday. I look forward to the weekend and doing some proper, actual cooking from scratch, and some exercising without having to worry too much about how much time I have to do it in.

I used to own a lot of old recipe books from the 70s and early 80s – a consequence of having gone vegetarian aged 17 (along with most of my family!). Someone once persuaded me to declutter and get rid of them but I was wrong to listen; I ended up buying copies of the same books back from the internet in recent years. I like them because they’re from a time before forces including some highly irresponsible capitalist greed caused supermarkets to be stocked full of ready meals. The food in them sometimes seems a bit plainer but I see protein sources, I see a lot of veg, I see not a lot wrong with the food. My original copies had stickers in, denoting which recipes did not contain dairy and could thus be made and eaten by me. Now, in 2022, when there’s a non-dairy equivalent for just about everything, I have no need of stickers – I can substitute.😊

I’ve been pondering getting back into the step aerobics because my leg and foot seem to be behaving OK on walks now, but I think I’ll need a smaller step because my step board thing I have is way higher, even on its lowest setting, than what they are using on the DVD – no wonder I pulled a muscle keeping up.

Things are about to get busier at work, just for the next few weeks so I might not have a lot of time to update here. I’m going to try to keep up with posting the food photos though as it helps keep me accountable. With having some extra work on, my biggest challenge will be keeping active so I’m planning to get outside for at least half an hour a day, doing my walks, and to alternate other sorts of workouts, scheduling time to fit them in.

Today’s exercise? I went on a work mission into the office, on foot, via visiting a pharmacy on the way. I’ve worked out, using Google Maps, that I walked a total of 3.8 miles there and back again, and for the first third of that, my leg didn’t hurt 😉

Zara said one of the things Gloji looks for is people losing 5% of their body weight over the 12 weeks of the course, which for me would bring me down to 74.1kg – although let’s call it 74kg (especially because my initial guesstimate was a bit off). A 10% weight loss would get me to 70kg and a 15% weight loss would get me to near enough the ‘correct’ BMI but I don’t necessarily see that happening. I said to Zara my goal is to be healthy (rather than aiming for a weight and expecting my body to comply).

It’s been 4 weeks now – I’m a third of the way through this thing. Have to say I’m enjoying it, although I don’t think I ate enough today. Had my first meal a bit too late, so by dinner time wasn’t all that hungry for it, but it’s 11pm now and I feel kind of empty although not enough to do anything about it. I’ll drink some tea, that might help. I didn’t eat any fruit today, although we’ve got plenty – will fix that tomorrow.

Did my Pilates and went on a long-ish, if careful, walk. I heal slowly due to the circulatory nonsense thing I have, which doesn’t mean not exercising, it just means not jumping around.

“I admire your ambition” said PJ, as I advised him there was no salt used making our evening meal of Quorn sausages, carrots, mash, and a herb and tomato sauce. After tasting it, we both agreed it needed some. I added a small sprinkle, with great hesitancy…

I did a tentative walk today, to the shop and back. Very slow and careful going but it was good to be outside. I’m updating this blog at 1:42am on Sunday but this is Saturday’s update and food. In the photos, I missed out the 7 blueberries I ate so I could take the container out of the fridge and there’d be more room for the food shop once it arrived.

20 minutes chairobics this morning – it’s definitely an aerobic workout, despite my concern it might not be because of my idea that you have to jump up and down to achieve that.

Busy day! Lots of work done, fair bit of housework done. Going to see if my leg/foot are up to a walk outside tomorrow… staying in is not enough fresh air. Food photos from today:

There were also 2 squares of 100% chocolate, but they’re not all that photogenic.