Damn it, I'm broken!
Boy, what a drag.
Still running, exercising, eating better and losing weight, but been getting sick more recently, specifically diarrhea. However, I can 100% predict when it is going to happen, and it is based on my free eating days. Now I know in the past these days have been going great, but slowly but surely I have started eating the "normal" food I was used to before, however still keeping it within my calorie range for the day. The problem I am sure is the frying. My wife, like most south Chinese people, fries most meals in a big old wok everyday. Veggies, main courses, everything. And whereas it tastes delicious, my stomach is now having big problems with it. During my regular eating days I have oatmeal with protein, fruit, salads with chicken and tuna and healthy home made dressing, and home made stew or protein rich soup for dinner every night, with nuts and veggies for snacks. Been working great for me. Then with one free day I was usually sticking primarily to the same kind of foods, just with other treats like beer and/or ice cream. That was also working well and helping me to achieve weight loss like I have never experienced before.
But then I started thinking, well, my wifes cooking is sooo good, maybe I will go back on that on my free day. So now being the holiday, I actually did 2 days of that yummy cooking, while still keeping the calories in check, and I am rotten inside.... I am sure it is all the peanut oil. Due to the fact so much of the cooking is done in thin iron woks over high heat, the oil needs to be peanut or similar based and used liberally in order to prevent burning. Tasty as heck, but after 2 months of pretty much putting fried and greasy foods 100% off my daily diet, it is killing me now. Time to nip that in the bud again....
Luckily this time the wife is so taken with my weight loss that she is not personally offended that "her" cooking is wrecking me. She knows I love to eat it, it just simply doesn't love me anymore. Today while I sat at home (awake since 5am) suffering, she ran out to pick up all the ingredients I need to make up another big old healthy pot of Crockpot stew. All veggie, potato and ultra lean meat. No oils or extra fat at all. Deeelicious and belly (and bum) friendly.
I am REALLY hoping the back end calms down a bit soon so I can go for another run. I must admit I am getting quite addicted. I finally bought new running shoes and my feet feel better than ever. That with the new hat, MP3 player and funky fitness gear and I cant wait to get out the door everyday.
I did something new and fun the other day. Of course being a westerner, I have always had a deep aversion to sweating, especially publicly. Disgusting! Nasty! Dirty! Well, here it really isn't a big thing. To see someone in the heat not sweating here is a sign of sickness, stay away!! Its simply that hot and humid. So sweating is no biggie, but it took me a while to get over the self conscious aspects of it. The other day on my way home from work, I popped into the busiest computer market downtown to pick up some blank dvd's. I figured since I ran right past there everyday anyways, why not? 29C, 85% humidity, 4km running so far....... Needless to say I was SWEATING!!!!! Soaked! I loved how people saw me coming and pretty much cleared an aisle in the ultra busy market. Part of it was an attempt to stay dry I suppose, but a good part of it was seeing a large, tattooed guy dressed like he was running a marathon cruising through a computer market..... Awesome! You just don't see that many people here actively pursuing fitness yet so these displays are rare and I am guessing quite entertaining. Definitely something many of them will be relating over drinks or dinner with friends afterwards.... And now that they don't consider me "fat" anymore, I get absolute stares of awe and admiration, not curiosity and comedy.
If I am lucky and my ass gives me a damn break already I will do it again today. I have to go to specialty places to get chicken breasts because Chinese people generally don't eat anything boneless, skinless or without heaps of visible fat, so its a trip. Now instead of a 25 bus ride, I can do it simply in a 20 minute jog, also stopping by the fitness store to pick up a real skipping rope thats is not designed for an 8 year old girl. I look forward now to people asking me why I am so hot and sweaty and telling them where I just ran from and where I now plan to run back to. They are always so proud and happy for me. Foreigners here do have a pretty bad rap as being generally pretty lazy, and really, for sooooo many of the ones here, it is 100% true. Too many come looking for the easy life, and most to some degree or other find it.
But not me. With all the gorgeous parks, mountains and beaches in the area a person would be crazy not to go exploring it everyday. As much as I liked cycling back home, I am now beginning to prefer running more. There are so many people on the sidewalks here (bicycles AND motorcycles are allowed on the sidewalks here) and I wouldn't trust the roads, cycling wouldn't be nearly as much fun as it was back home. Running gives me a chance to see more things more carefully and not have to pay as much attention to where I am going.
The only problem I see coming is the summer. How hard will it be to go running everyday when its 40C and 98% humidity?? Is it even possible? I still hope to walk (and sweat my arse off(literally)) everyday, but running in that heat...... Oy. Perhaps I will have to switch to morning runs....... Ah well.
sirant