Ask Sherry: How do I stay so slim?

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How do I stay so slim? Diet, Regimen, etc, please!

I hate to tell you this, but I am 90% lucky.

So. From what I can gather, it is for these following reasons:

1. Genetics

I am naturally slim by nature but that was not always the case.

I had a pudgy phase when I was a little girl, which made my (supposedly well-meaning) relatives write on pictures taken of me:

“Looks like I need to get more exercise and lose some weight”

Now before you get mad at my relatives, they are just like that. Honest, frank, and from the Old World where they just tell it LIKE IT IS, consequences and feelings be damned because emotions only started cropping up with Millennials and so on, and did not count as meaningful things before a certain year.

They in the same vein, are also NOT emotional people. Reserved, I’d say. No touching, kissing, hugging, open signs of affection. Very stoic. So…. well. They are who they are and I cannot change them, I can only change how I react to things like that now, and how I act towards others.

That said..

I almost cried when I read that.

My heart broke because I did not think I was that fat, and instantly, seeing as I had thick glasses, crooked teeth, I felt even uglier than I had before that moment.

I kept that in my mind, as my defining “I’ll show you. I may be fat, and ugly, but I am at least SMART AF and that is what matters. When I am successful no one will care about this.“…. and that drove me all the way through my entire life (still does, even though I am no longer fat nor ugly … but I am still smart AF..)

I then, within the next year or two (without doing anything differently, I still ate like I was starving), I grew a good 5″ – 6″ and the sort of pudginess disappeared and spread out over my body.

From then on, I have always been slim until I got pregnant (put on 25 pounds if I recall correctly), and even after I lost the baby weight, I am still slim but I have sized up one size in pretty much all of my clothes because I can no longer stand the feeling of super tight clothing AND my body itself structure-wise has widened.

Same weight, bigger bones.. so to speak.

The hormones stretched out my shoulders by about 1/4” and I can feel my hips and body in general is just.. bigger by about 1/4…

I have gone up a size and I don’t care. People actually can’t tell. They tell me I look like a Size 0, but when in fact, I am  a Size 4 to 6….

Anyway, I am genetically blessed.

That’s all I can say to explain it. I eat twice the amount of normal people (EVERYONE COMMENTS ON THIS..), and I don’t really gain weight that quickly.

I am not someone who can eat for 2 weeks indulging in cakes and so on, and see myself put on a pound. I would need to eat like that for a month or 2 months before I see any weight gained.

2. Eating Habits

I don’t snack. You won’t see me REGULARLY snacking on nuts, yoghurt, whatever.

If there is a snack to be eaten — hell yeah, I am on it. I eat the cake in front of me, I indulge once in a while, but I do not do it daily.

I also don’t eat dessert daily. I know some people crave a sweet thing after eating a meal, but I am not used to that. I am used to eating fruit after a meal if I wanted something sweet, as a kid.

I only snack on candy and crap when I am stressed which as of late, has been almost daily for the past 2 months (yes, my weight is slowly creeping up by half a pound in those 2 months as we speak)…

I also don’t eat junk food in general. I like a hamburger once in a while but it just reminds me how much I don’t really enjoy them versus a good meal of chirashi (raw fish on rice)…

I like eating heavy pastas, heavy foods, but I do not enjoy eating like that on a daily basis. I crave a good salad once in a while, and my favourite go-to meal as of late, is plain noodles with this vegan sauce I created (nutritional yeast, soy sauce, sesame oil)…. that’s it.

There is not much that is heavy in calories that I enjoy eating. My favourite cuisine is Japanese, and their dishes are pretty healthy for the most part — grilled fish, vegetables, etc.

We also don’t keep junk snacks in the house (unless hidden, like my Emergency Toblerones)…. that is to say we have no crackers, biscuits, cookies, chips, or any stuff to snack on in the house. It just isn’t done ..

3. General light lifestyle exercise

I take the stairs when it is 3 flights or less.

I walk where I can (I park and then walk, instead of taking the bus or metro), and I like yoga. But really intensive, workout kind of yoga, not meditation.

That’s about it.

I hate to run, I don’t like biking, I hate the gym.

What colors do you prefer for home design/decoration? (textiles, furniture, walls, etc.)

Simple. Think: Spartan Ikea Room

Blonde wood, white walls, nothing but the bare essentials.

Few things here and there that are necessary, but not useless knick-knackerry.

For the walls?

White. Light greys. Ivories. Navy blue if I have to as an accent (but rarely.. I find it very dark).

Boring I know, but I really don’t like bright colours on the wall, they give me a headache. I prefer wearing bright loud outfits.

For furniture, I like medium to blonde wood for most furniture, otherwise in white, grey or ivory…. sort of like this…

I also for textiles, like .. white, grey, ivory. I mean, once in a while I get suckered into thinking: WOW! I’d love this super colourful print in this pretty pillow!

Then I imagine it on my bed and get a headache. I am too fickle to keep something like a pretty print around and NOT want to change it after 5 months or a year. I would rather do this in clothing, and not feel so bad because it is not constantly there, in my face, every day.

The only way a colourful print could make it on my bed, would be if it was a blanket. A blanket, I can fold up, use elsewhere, and not have it be part of my main textiles on the bed.

Little Bun loves colourful blankets though and his blankets are a red plaid, which he calls: “My very pretty blankets“… so for him, he can choose what he wants.

As for décor — same thing. Plain, pleasant, neutral colours. Colours only appear when it is things like cases, clothing, bags, accessories.

Where it gets interesting, is though the colour palette is neutral and plain, I love TEXTURE.

I love the feeling of a good mohair, a tweed…. any different texture makes me swoon, so that’s where it is different for me.

That is not to say I do not enjoy a really well designed room. I am a HUGE FAN of : Get a Room with Thom & Carson and think they do a FABULOUS job, like with these rooms below…

I love all the touches — the ball, the lamp, the plant…

But for ME? … No. I’d have to get rid of everything, and only keep the table and the chairs maybe.

All the rest, no thanks.

Or this, I think is STUNNING but again, NOT. FOR. ME.

I love the orange, the teal, the gold, all together, it looks great (in fact, great for an outfit inspiration)… but it is really not my style.

It is just not for me, to have coffee tables everywhere, or things that are unnecessary.

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