One of the things I looked forward this summer was exploring what the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy had to offer gastronomically. Emilia-Romagna is a region known for its gastronomic traditions. I had a brief moment of wondering how I was going to survive it, not being into pasta, but I decided to be adventurous, just go with the flow and try dishes that I would normally not choose when dining out. Dinning out is usually a big part of our vacations because holidays away from home is the time I take a 100% break from any form of food preparation. I do not cook anything. Nothing.
It amuses me that some people feel that living a healthier lifestyle is about eating tasteless food. It also amuses me that people who don’t really know me well think that (1) I barely eat and (2) I exercise everyday.
But in actual fact, (1) I love food (2) I love ice cream, cakes, biscuits, deserts chocolates, sweets etc. (3) I exercise 3-5days a week.
Yes, there was a time in my life when I ate very little food, that time was straight after university when money was not enough for fashion and food and I choose fashion over food. Back in those days, I choose to spend whatever little money I had on clothing and shoes. My weekly home food shopping budget was around £10 a week.
I had taken a skipping rope, some resistance bands and core sliders with a plan of doing 30mins structured exercise daily. After day one, I decided to ditch that plan and not do anything else in addition to our daily sightseeing walks. Even though I clocked 220,292 steps over the 12 days, that was not enough to stop a few pounds attaching themselves to me.
As soon as we got back, after a couple of days settling back into routine, I got down to the business of making sure the habits I formed in Bologna, stayed in Bologna. As a result, after the first week, I went down by 2 kg. Which brings me pretty much back to where I was before I went on holiday.
One week of no more daily pastries at a cafe with hubby, no more Spritzers, and no more daily gelato resulted in an instant 2kg drop in weight.
One of the things I coach my clients (kineticklifestyle.com), is not to focus on their weight but to focus on negative patterns and habits that lead to weight gain. Once you can replace those habits with positive, sustainable ones, then the weight will drop off.
I replaced the pastries with oats and eggs, the Spritzer with water and the gelato with fruits. It’s not as easy as I make it sound but when you’ve have been on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon for as long as I’ve been, making the switch is not too much of a struggle.
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