Six Months of Sitting 8 Hours a Day

I love my job writing radio commercials. Its’ great because I love writing, and because people at my workplace actually seem to appreciate my work, which will never stop thrilling me. I’ve worked plenty of places where I was not appreciated, so I know this is not the norm.  Being valued makes you shine and want to work really hard.

The tiny downside to this job is that I sit 8 hours a day.  I’m often up and down printing things and I try to walk during my lunch hour, but sitting, not only makes me a little crazy, it’s making me round.  I’ve gained close to 10 pounds since I started. I have the beginnings of what an old boyfriend used to call, “government butt.” Not a very nice term for what government employees develop by sitting all day.

It’s easy to do, you don’t even see it coming, then bam.  That liar of a scale flashes a number that makes your hair stick straight up. So, I’m considering doing something as drastic as actually getting up at the God-awful hour of 5:15 and going to the gym to work out before work.  Just the thought of it makes me want to cry. It’s only in the consideration stage at this point, but I’m warming up to the idea. By December I should be on board.

The other thing I’m trying to do is count calories, which is OK, until you total everything up. My response at the end of the day is usually, “What the hell?  I didn’t eat THAT much, did I?” Followed by, “Wow, I guess all I get is a salad for dinner…no wait, make that a leaf of lettuce.”

In an effort to stop government butt, I’m making some vegetable heavy dishes.  One of my favorites, which I got from an old Weight Watchers book is Garden Vegetable Soup.  I love it. It’s low calorie, full of yummy veggies, and tastes really delicious. I have it with a little grated Parmigiano or Romano cheese on top and it’s really satisfying.

Granted, it would be better with a big hunk of crusty, warm bread dipped in olive oil, but I guess you can’t have everything.

Of course I can never leave well enough alone when it comes to a recipe, so I added a little more of all the veggies and two cans of stewed tomatoes, which added about 180 calories to the recipe. If you follow the actual Weight Watchers recipe, it’s about 42 calories per serving. With mine, it’s probably closer to 62 calories, but well worth it. And for all my vegan friends (I believe there are two of you) you can use vegetable broth and this recipe is actually vegan!

Garden Vegetable Soup

3/4 cup chopped celery

1/2 cup diced onion

2 garlic cloves

3/4 cup chopped carrots

3 to 4 cups vegetable  or chicken broth (I used chicken)

2 cups chopped cabbage

1/2 cup green beans

5 basil leaves finely chopped

1/2 tsp. Italian seasoning

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup chopped zucchini

2 cans stewed Italian style tomatoes (diced) and their sauce

In a large soup pot, spray with nonstick cooking spray OR a 1 Tbsp. olive oil.  Sauté the carrot, onion, celery and garlic over low heat until softened, about 5 minutes.

Add broth, cabbage, beans, basil, Italian seasoning and salt. Add two cans of finely chopped stewed tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer covered about 15 minutes or beans are tender.

Stir in zucchini and cook about 5 minutes. Then serve with grated cheese.