FOOD!!!! ..... and exercise

Hey,

So I am not going to lie, I love food. It has always been one of my favourite things. I enjoy to cook, snack, and talk about food. I love to cook food for people, it’s awesome. However, this is the first time in my life were I have actually had to watch what I consume.  It literally never crossed my mind until I began to realize that jeans are tighter than they used to be. Damn, this sucks!

Being a rugby player for the past 9 years, and a jack of all trades athlete before that, with a job as a lifeguard and swim instructor I really had the metabolism of a squirrel. I couldn’t eat enough food to satisfy my needs. The only thing that would leave me a little soft around the edges was beer, which was a fairly large part of the rugby life. After a day of fitness, however, I would be back on the straight and narrow.

Nowadays it seems like after I eat a pasta dinner I am in need of a jog or else I am going to pop a button. So that is an interesting situation in which I am trying to eat slower and stopping because I believe I have eaten enough. I used to eat until I hated myself, and even then I would catch myself looking in the fridge 15 minutes later. I have discovered that plate size directly helps in tricking your mind into thinking that you have eaten more than you have.

The largest aspect of me eating the amount that I did was because of the rugby mentality that I needed to be as big and strong as I could be. Now to give myself credit, I did just that. I came into university weighing 195lbs, could bench press 225, and was good enough to play for the junior varsity team (for a basic level of fitness comparison). When I left university I was 240lbs, could bench press 315lbs and was a playing member of varsity squad. Without eating the way I did I would not have been able to do such things. Now, since I am not longer having to lift 250lbs men above my head, tackle someone running at full speed, or be a part of a scrum of 8 men with a total weight of 1500lbs plus, I don’t need to have the same “be as big and strong as you can be” body.

Now it seems logical to me that I need to change the diet and workouts and it will change my body. But that is like trying to teach an old dog new tricks. I like eating and I don’t like running… but I also don’t like growing. It is quite the dilemma.

I think I need to just get a new sport, with the mentality of getting lean and fit… any suggestions J

Anyways, talk to you later