How To Lose a Pound in 10 Minutes

This was the week that life really started to change for me, and I want to tell you about it. 

It started like many other recent late-stage pandemic weeks: By noticing a surge in "how to lose the pandemic weight" articles and people talking about needing to get back in shape. As with most things in modern society, this first made me feel ashamed, and then it made me feel angry. I've fluctuated between 10 and 15 pounds of weight gain since last summer, and while my body is bigger to a degree that requires larger clothes, it is also stupid for me to fault my body for behaving correctly: When you are in a stressful situation — and when you are primed to fight off illness — your body collects every calorie it can in case shit hits the fan. Those pounds are supposed to protect us. Also, I know plenty of people who have been able to focus more on exercise over the last year because their schedules now permit. I am not one of those people. 

I mention this because you might not be one of those people either, and we live in a world that has taught us to see weight and amount of exercise as the only true barometers of health. This is usually to the detriment of actual health markers. I am a fairly health-conscious person, and I also would not consider myself to have ever had an eating disorder or to have been overweight. Still, did I ever really stop to consider how my body actually felt? If I'm getting enough sleep? If I feel like movement, or if I'm digesting meals properly? There are a million ways that your body tells you how you feel, and we ignore just about all of them.

The truth is that despite dire circumstances in the world and a more restrictive isolation than most people I know, there have definitely been plenty of times over the past year where my body has never felt better. I think back to late summer, when my friend Blair came to drop a meal off at my house: "I think I've actually lost a bunch of weight," I told her, because I was feeling myself. A week or two later, I actually checked and learned I'd gained five pounds. That was my first mistake. 

When you read this, I will be one day from being "fully vaccinated" after the two weeks post-second shot. Over this past weekend, I ventured out into the world ever careful but bolder than I ordinarily would be as a result. I went to the farmer's market, and to the plant shop, and I ran into a friend in the street and got to pet his new puppy. And I worked up the gumption to go to a hair salon, at last. I have had a pixie hair cut for approximately fifteen years, and over the course of 2020 I learned just how fast that hair can grow. On Sunday, in a tiny shop where I was the only customer and I got to sit next to an open door and feel the breeze and zero fear, I chatted with a very kind and talented hairdresser about Patrick Swayze while he cut approximately 13 inches of hair off my head.

I understand how corny it sounds for me to say this in this moment, but it could not be more true: That hair was the only weight I needed to lose. And now when I look in the mirror, I see my face again. I look like the person who I know that I am and not like a person who's been trapped under the spell of an old wizard for the last 100 years. 

I am not going to give you a recipe to cook this week, because what I want for you most of all this week is ease. Chop up some carrots and eat them with hummus or dipped in a little bit of lemony goat cheese. Bake up one of those baguettes you can keep in the freezer. Get some new spring peas and mix them into boxed mac and cheese, or just eat them (as I often do) drizzled with a little olive oil and salt and pepper. (And more lemon juice! Put lemon juice on everything, it's basically summer now!!) 

If you DO need someone to throw a “real” recipe at you, however, I suggest this ground turkey stir fry. It's easy, it's cheap, and it's easily customizable with whatever you have in your fridge. If turkey isn't your thing (seriously though, ground dark meat is where it is at), you can use beef or Beyond Meat crumbles; if, like me, you do not love cooked bell peppers, you can substitute whatever veggies float your boat. It's a really great way to get actual nutrition in your body without doing very much, which is basically the goal of my entire life.

Or just eat some cheese and crackers. We're making it to the other side! I promise this time.

This week’s pandemic listening: DAWN PENN.

You’re reading “Soup and Despair,” a weekly newsletter by Sarah Flynn and Rebecca Orchant. It’s about food, feelings, and surviving the dark times. If someone forwarded you this email, it’s because they love you and they want you to eat. You can subscribe to it too!