Friday, March 4, 2016

My Lovely Lady Lumps

And the award for the hardest working metabolism in the history of mankind goes to………..........

Anyone who knows me will be aware that I have quite possibly one of the worst diets imaginable.  I don’t eat any vegetables or any fruit, in fact the closest thing to a vegetable I've ever eaten is a French Fry! I cannot cook to save my life (apart from my beloved beans on toast combo).  All my meals are microwave friendly and no doubt heavily processed.  To add insult to injury I have a serious soft drink addiction, at one point I was averaging a litre of Coke a day.  And no, before you ask, I have not been diagnosed with diabetes! How this is even possible remains a mystery to me too! An even bigger mystery is the fact that despite the odds I have managed to remain a size 10.  I’ll be the first to admit that it really isn't fair. There are some people that could gain weight just by looking at what I eat! My metabolism really does deserve an award.  But looks can certainly be deceiving. I may appear to be a healthy enough individual to the average eye, however the repercussions of my diet are beginning to take their toll.

So where do these bad eating habits of mine stem from? Should I be blaming my parents for not enforcing a more balanced diet on me? Well first of all, Mum & Dad are certainly not to blame here.  I’m a stubborn adult, so you can only imagine what I was like as a child.  My parents repeatedly threatened disciplinary action every time I neglected my greens.  I still refused.  I remember one instance where my dad told me that I wasn't allowed to leave the table until I had eaten everything on my plate.  I didn't bother pleading my case, instead I saw it as a challenge.  I sat there with a smug look on my face, fully prepared to spend the rest of the evening at the table.  Eventually frustration got the better of him and he threw the contents of my plate in the bin. I had won this battle! It wouldn't be long before my parents gave up on even trying to get me to eat healthier.  I was a lost cause, no one could save me but myself. 

With regards to the side effects I touched on earlier, I can’t help but notice several changes occurring to both the exterior and interior of my body. The first notable change has to do with my energy-or lack thereof.  Once a competitive long distance runner, now I can’t even run for a bus without gasping for air.  I'm tired all the time, no matter how much sleep I acquire.  My love of movie watching has been severely compromised by this constant state of fatigue.  The girl that sat through Titanic fifteen times at the cinema now struggles to stay awake for the entirety of any film.  Next thing you know I’ll be falling asleep mid-sentence like Bart Simpson’s Grandpa.  In a bid to explain my drowsy demeanour, my fitness guru brother Matthew told me to think of my body as a car.  In that respect I'm definitely a second hand, 1980 Toyota! If my body is a car, than the food I consume is no doubt the fuel.  With that in mind it’s no surprise I feel so run-down all the time. I guess it’s a case of getting back what you put in.  If you feed your body with crap, then you’re going to feel like crap & vice versa.

My physical appearance is also beginning to change.  For years people have been telling me that one day all my unhealthy habits would come back to bite me in the ass.  I hate to admit it but they were right, only the ass they were referring to is slightly bigger these days.  My once steel-like metabolism is showing serious signs of strain.  For the first time in my 31 years of life I've noticed a bit of extra meat on my bones.  I now have love handles and a pot belly-or pouch as I prefer to call it.  I know I'm not overweight as of yet, however this certainly isn't the body shape I've become accustomed to. 

So what now? Well I'm slightly ashamed of the fact that it took a noticeable change in my appearance for me to finally show concern where my health was concerned.   My body has been sending me signs for years that it was struggling, yet I ignored them and continued to indulge in a lifestyle that can only be seen as detrimental.  I'm always going to love greasy, fried food. I'm always going to crave all things chocolate. I don’t plan on denying myself any of those things, life’s too short!  However it’s my attitude towards food I want to change, and not just to lose the additional skin I seem to have acquired.  I want to improve my overall health as well.  I'm sick of feeling sluggish.  I'm sick of fighting the urge to nap at any given opportunity.  Food really is fuel for our bodies, and it’s about time I stop attempting to run on empty, and by empty I mean crap.

Yours Faithfully,
Fiona


Behold........my first ever salad! One small step for mankind.....








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