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Wednesday, April 09, 2008
6:36 PM
I think after four months in Florida I am now fully qualified to make certain observations about the average Floridian. I live with two of them and spend quite a lot of time with one at work, and I have discussed Floridian unique behaviors and habits at length with other "visitors" here in Florida. Of all their strange and mysterious ways, we visitors tend to agree that their most bothersome behavior (and the one that bothers and affects me the most) is their obsession with health.
Granted, I think it is extraordinarily important to be physically fit and eat healthy. I probably don’t think about it nearly as much as I should (although now I do, as you’ll see after reading this post), but I am quite thankful that I do not err on the other extreme either. Floridians tend to do just this.
In Ohio, whole days passed quite happily without my thoughts ever once wandering toward what I should or should not be eating. Trips to the grocery store lasted half an hour at most, and even though I was careful to balance the "healthies" with the "unhealthies" I rarely studied nutrition labels for any length of time. Guilt rarely penetrated my mood if I skipped a day at the gym, and I observed both those skinnier and heavier than me with indifference.
Florida is a different world. It’s hard to remain unaffected when day after day conversation in the apartment revolves around calorie counting, healthy food prep, and exercise regimes. The glares and raised eyebrows I get when I choose to prepare myself a bowl of ice cream are disconcerting at least, and discouraging at worst. Discouraging, I mean, in that I’ve actually put the ice cream back in the freezer and retreated to my room to dream of the ice cream I could be eating.
A trip to Panera with one Floridian friend ended in deep depression, as this woman knew exactly how many calories were in each food item and made sure I knew it, too. If you know me at all, you know that I deeply love Panera. I used to go there after especially long, trying days to cheer myself up. Now I’m just depressed after I eat there, because all I can think about are the calories I’ve just consumed...
Grocery shopping now takes me 1.5 hours, because I have to read every single nutrition label. Anything over 300 calories doesn’t go near my shopping cart. For awhile I went to the gym every single day, spending close to an hour on an elliptical. I quickly burnt out, especially since my evenings were then shot. It was depressing - coming home from work, going to the gym, coming home, showering, and then going straight to bed. There was no time to enjoy the blissful Florida winter weather, not too hot but delightfully temperate. Only exercise, exercise, exercise, and guilt, guilt, guilt.
Never in my life has my self esteem regarding my weight been lower. I think there is such a thing as being too health conscious... it’s a little self-absorbed, don’t you think? I don’t know, maybe I’m being too sensitive. All I do now is that I’ve seen a definite change in my attitude and shopping habits, and not necessarily for the better.
I think the challenge will be to find the right balance. I haven’t gone to the gym once this week (to be fair though, I am sick), and I’ve been a bit indulgent in my dessert choices. Maybe I should start going three, maybe four times a week, and pack the chocolate pudding in my lunch every other day. Still, one of the many reasons I look forward to returning to Ohio is to escape this Floridian obsessive health insanity. Hopefully it hasn’t done too much damage. :P
P.S. I love how earlier this evening I lamented how much I was craving ice cream, and now two of my roommates have left to go get some without inviting me along. Glad to know I’m not invisible or anything.Labels: exercise, Florida
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Saturday, June 09, 2007
7:33 PM
This post is about cravings. For example, right now I really want some cheesecake. Creamy, fluffy, rich, chocolately, one-million-effing-calories cheesecake. Bring it on.
Don't you hate totally random cravings that come out of nowhere? This morning my sister called me at 11am because she had a McDonald's craving.
Like the lazy ass I am, I was still in bed.
I had set my alarm for 9am to get up and run. Yes, you read that correctly, Megan is actually trying the whole "exercise" thing. It seems to work wonders for fat asses across the nation, so why not mine? I'll tell you why it won't work for mine. Instead of getting up at 9am to run, I woke up at 11am to go to McDonald's with my sister. :) Yay me!
Actually, I did run after I came home...if you can actually call it running. It was really more like dragging my body around the block and back praying to God that no one saw me gasping for air, breathing like a beached whale. Still, I felt pretty good about myself for trying. Maybe next time I'll try a 10 minute run. XD Don't want to overdo it, you know.
Hm, but I'm still craving cheesecake.
Last night after bible study my friends and I went to Applebee's to celebrate the end of the quarter (AND THERE WAS GREAT REJOICING HELL YAAAAAAA!). I was absolutely ravenous, as I hadn't had a substantial thing to eat all day. At work earlier in the day I didn't get a chance to slip out for lunch until around 2:15pm. The little snack bar I usually buy lunch from, however, closed at 2pm. So no lunch for Megan. When I came home at around 5pm I just wasn't hungry anymore, but I had a little bit of left over mac and cheese to try and head off the inevitable hunger migraine I knew was forthecoming. Yeah, it didn't work, but Exedrin Migraine is a wonderful thing.
 Back to Applebee's. We ate half-priced-appetizers (except for me - I ordered myself a full meal, thank you very much), and Lisa and I split a Bahamamama. [Photo: Lisa (left) and Me (right) enjoying our Bahamama] It was very good, but we only drank about half of it because both of us are lightweights and both of us were driving. Oh well! Afterwards we all came back to my place and sat up on the roof chatting and enjoying the lovely evening. Did you know Columbus has stars? I didn't either! You can actually see them from my roof at night...
Roof = my new favorite place. You can crawl out onto the roof from my bedroom window, and I've taken to hanging out there every chance I get. I like it because I can enjoy the outdoors without worrying about strangers hastling me or weirdos staring at me, and it's a perfect sunbathing spot. I don't usually lay out in the sun, because I am pretty fair skinned and tend to burn easily. It's nice to have a little sun though, pink or tan, instead of the pasty white color I usually am.
Okay, this post is running a little on the long side and I really have nothing interesting to say, except:
HELL YA RAGS-TO-RICHES! YOU GO GIRL!
Rags to Riches won the Belmont Stakes tonight. She's the first filly to win the Belmont since 1905. Ah yes, girl power reigned supreme. :)
Okay, I'm done now. Does anyone know where I can get some cheesecake?Labels: exercise, food, friends, horses, roof
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