@Marilyn, never fear. At this late stage in my life, I don’t think I’ll become addicted to exercise. I just hope to happily enjoy it and go do it without moaning and groaning. Today was trainer day and I am so, so bad about dreading it and being all negative and of course when it’s over and done I feel wonderful. I’m sitting here right now enjoying that certain “glow” you feel all over.
VaBluebird, do you think about why you dread your sessions so much and have such negative feelings? Can you identify the barriers to you having a better mindset about your time with your trainer? Do you think you can take your positive feelings you have at the end of your session and use them to help you look forward to your training. Have you discussed this with your trainer? If you can become more positively invested in your sessions, it will be more enjoyable and productive for both you and your trainer.
Michael, I don’t get that deep into it, I just make myself go. I do know I am going to be glad I did. I am never, ever negative with her.
@VaBluebird - sounds like cleaning the house. Wanting to put it off and pretend you don’t need to do it, then feeling so good when it’s done.
The book(s) we are recommending are the three cookbooks by Ottolenghi. I like Plenty the best, but Jerusalem is also excellent and adds meat, poultry and fish to the mix. I’ve got More Plenty as well, but it seems to catch my eye less. I’ve made fewer recipes from it. Many of the dishes use a lot of the flavors from the middle east - lemon, garlic, yogurt, cumin.
Mathmom beat me to it. I seem to make more from Jerusalem but that may be due to the fact my oldest D loves one of the lentil dishes from that book. I also recommend Plenty. I’ve checked More Plenty out of the library on several occasions. I didn’t like it enough to add to my collection. If you don’t like middle eastern cooking I don’t recommend the books.
The library can be a great option for trying new cookbooks.
I haven’t been exercising but clothes all fit. My issue is blotting. I need to really figure out what my trigger foods are.
OK compadres- I am confessing this here and now because otherwise I’d still have a little over 24 hours to chicken out (which is tempting), and confessing keeps me on the straight and narrow. Now I (and please readers- this is my personal feeling about this and not a commentary on anyone else’s thoughts or choices) liken exercise to what I imagine it’s like to have to take cod liver oil-- hold my nose and get through it because its good for me. I have been better with keeping up with exercising since our family ski trip this year than I have with watching what I eat (those pesky Talenti gelato containers keep jumping into my shopping cart). But I digress…
I have never run a race in my life. Ever. And had never planned to. Ever. But in a little over a day I, and 60,000 or so of my closest friends will be running a 10k. Not a 5k… a 10k. Its my own fault. Two weeks ago I won a free bib #. And they are apparently pretty hard to come by. So with not a lot of additional training time, I have done my best to try to prepare survive this (unlike the poor gentleman who did not, and died in my lap when I was a spectator at this race a decade or so ago – see post # 14 http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/19777989/#Comment_19777989– ). I picked up the bib # today. DH is scheduled to be in a starting group way ahead of me, but he will forego that and run (well, I hope a reasonable part of it will be running and not walking, but it will be a combination of the two) with me and some other friends in our group.
I still have time to sell my number and make a nice profit… hmmm…
Don’t think I haven’t considered it. But I am committed. Unless the weather is bad or I break a nail or something in the meantime 
So I will soldier though this. My DH is thrilled. I will (I hope) get the t-shirt. And mark what was never on my bucket list in the first place off the bucket list. I hope those from the exercise thread reading this can be happy for me.
Survived the race. No one died. Apparently finished in a decent time too. It was HOT HOT HOT outside. So now the bad news-- one of the people we met up with before/after the race is a fabulous baker. She made brownies, cookies and cupcakes. Three guesses who they got sent home with…
Kudos to you jym626 ! Impressive
Congrats. I’ve only run two 10Ks. Amusingly, I won a medal for being the fastest in my age group even though I was one of the slowest runners. This was in my early 20s - it was organized by a local school. The Moms were all faster and older than me. The kids were all faster and younger than me. 
Thanks, @SouthJerseyChessMom. The other funny thing this week-- I had more gym clothes in the laundry than did DH. THAT was a first. Now it’s time to get back into healthy eating.
Jym626- I’m sure I speak for all of us on this thread.Congrats and we are proud of you. Just don’t ditch us for the die hard exercise thread.
One and done, @mom60 . One and done. If I hadn’t gotten the ticket for free, I’d likely have watched the race on TV from my bedroom sipping my cup of coffee. That’s my idea of how to spend the morning 
That’s really funny, @mathmom
I am really inspired by you @jym626. You have kept your New Year’s resolutions and have been consistent.
I am sure you feel healthier and more energetic. It is good to have goals and to challenge our abilities.
Reading your posts has encouraged me to make changes in my life for the better and I thank you for making me realize that giving time to myself is important too and that we should not neglect ourselves. The responsibilities will always be there but we need time to get centered and revitalize our bodies. Thank you for reviving this thread. You have given me the motivation to keep working on myself little by little week to week.
Thank you, @raclut. What a nice message to wake up to. I have been better about exercise than dieting, so will need to refocus. And I gave myself a few days off after the race. In fact, yesterday I got a pedicure with leg massage. Loved that!
We all have targets and goals and responsibilities. As they say, you can’t take care of others if you don’t take care of yourself first. I so appreciate the gentle support and encouragement of this thread. Let’s keep it up.
I do want to focus on some EASY healthy recipes. I don’t plan ahead enough to cook meals. That’s a new goal. Any suggestions for EASY lo-cal recipes?
In the summer I tend to go with kitchen sink salads. Leftover vegetables, leftover meat, lots of fresh vegetables.
How about gazpacho? Just toss everything in the blender or food processor!
Grill. I grill a lot in the summer. Vegetables, fish on planks, boneless lamb (marinate it for a day in lemon, olive oil and rosemary) and then 10-15 minutes on a covered grill). You can sprinkle the vegetables with fresh herbs whizzed in a little olive oil, or sprinkle them with a spice mixture like zahtar. A little garlicky yogurt sauce with the vegetables is good too. I microwave a clove of garlic with a TB of olive oil to soften the flavor then add 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt and thin it with a bit of buttermilk or water. With the zahtar it is superyummy on eggplant or zucchini.
I think this easy foil packet dinner looks AMAZING!!!
http://realfoodbydad.com/mediterranean-chicken-packets/
That does look good. I should be cooking more stuff with olives while my younger son is away!