Eating less

As I mentioned before, I lost weight by eating less and exercising more. Surprisingly, increasing exercise turned out to be the easier part of the equation. I am still struggling with eating less. In fact, this past weekend was filled with gluttony.

Food, and frankly, overeating, is a big part of my lifestyle and culture. In a typical Filipino household, eating only one serving is an insult. You show appreciation for the food and the person who cooked it by eating a lot of the food they prepared. And bottom line, I love food. If something tastes good, I want to (and will) keep eating it and eating it.

Thankfully, I’ve never had a serious weight problem. But I know that my metabolism is slowing down so it’s important that I adjust my lifestyle now before it turns into a real problem.

It’s a constant challenge but here’s what has worked for me so far:

• Getting buy-in from V. He cooks most of the meals so he usually picks the recipes. He makes an effort to select lighter recipes and he also remembers to put less food on my plate.
• Stepping away from the food. This isn’t proper behavior if dining with other people, but if it’s just the two of us, I try to leave the dining table after I’ve had one serving of food. By stepping away from the food, I prevent mindless overeating.
• Keeping junk food out of the house. If junk food is in the house, I will eat it. My area of weakness though is ice cream and cheese. I’ve been able to eat less of it, but we still keep it in stock.

Figs and roasted beets salad prepared by V

Now don’t get the idea that I do all of these all the time. I certainly don’t. But every time I do, it means one less instance of overeating. By taking it one meal at a time, I can still enjoy food while working towards a better diet.

The Trapezoid Slice

V and I went out for a fancy dinner like a proper couple. We got all prettied up and he even opened the car door for me, woo!

But the good behavior stopped there. Once we got to the dining table, the gloves came off. We ate with our hands, ordered way too much food and ate it all, and ordered dessert even though our stomachs were already stretched beyond normal capacity.

Scamming for Booze

So far we’ve had four “official” parties this month, one with V’s family, two dinner parties and our Q1 wedding celebration. What we’ve discovered is that throwing parties is a good way to scam your friends for booze.

V and I don’t drink so whenever we invite people over, it’s BYOB. And they bring more than they can drink so at the end of the night, we have unopened bottles left over. Our collection is growing at a nice pace. We might need a wine rack after a few more parties.

So if you’re trying to start a wine collection or stock a wet bar, I highly recommend this route (unless your friends are the type to bring plonk).

Here’s our wine collection so far.

Now I wonder how we can scam our friends into giving us ice cream and chocolate…

Our ‘Hood: A Hotbed of Crime

I live in Oakland. There, I said it.

When I tell people, their first question is usually about safety. And that’s understandable.

After all, it has the third highest crime rate in the country.

I must admit that I still don’t feel completely safe here. Even though we live in a secured complex (access code is needed to enter the complex, opener needed for the garage), I check our front door throughout the day to make sure it’s locked.

I don’t know that I’ll ever feel 100% safe in our ‘hood. But I don’t think one should ever feel 100% safe (I’m trying to achieve “unagi“).

So how does this unaccompanied female stay safe?

Secrets

This weekend, I found myself hiding out in the bathroom, hiding from the husband.

How do you explain putting a charcoal mask on your face? You don’t. You just lock the bathroom and magically come out with glowing skin.