Forty-Six Weeks. I’m fried.

Our Trainer is getting more relentless. It’s more movement, more physical – more exhausting. It’s become rapid-fire, non-stop, sweat-pouring movement. The relaxation part is moving from the floor area to the machines or weights – although, in reality, those are just different devices of torture. I was on one machine today, doing an assisted pull-up, and then into a rotation of two other exercises, and then back to the machine. On my third go-around, he increased the weights on the machine. I almost did two reps and flat-out couldn’t get through the third. I just looked at him and said it ain’t happening. He grinned, said I had improved a lot – and lowered the weight a bit. I finished. Barely, but I finished.

There’s a reason we’re paying for this – and I mean money-wise and not physically-wise – and it’s because there’s no way in hell I would put myself through this on my own. I can push myself to a degree, but my degree and our Trainer’s degree are many many degrees apart.

I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

Yet… when we walk out of the gym, recovery has pretty much already take place. Something right is happening – and we wouldn’t be where we are had we done this on our own.

The true test, come July, is going to be maintenance. We need to maintain our weight and stamina without the scheduled sessions – and that means psyching ourselves up for pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones. That will probably be a bit more of a challenge. I could be a sloth fairly easily – but I also never want to step into an extra-large (let alone the xx-large I was wearing,) again. I really haven’t felt this comfortable in years. I plan on enjoying it!

Portion, portion, portion. It’s what I need to keep reminding myself about. My love of food hasn’t diminished and we’re not depriving ourselves – except by limiting intake. We don’t walk away from the table hungry – but we also don’t walk away stuffed to the gills.

Is it possible to learn balance at 67 years of age?!?

In our culinary adventures, we have rediscovered fresh ginger. Ginger became one of those items I would buy for a specific recipe and then watch the rest dry up to nothingness. There is powdered, crystalized, and two types of dried ginger pieces in the spice cupboard, but there really is nothing as satisfying as fresh. It’s making its appearance in hot and cold beverages, soups and stir-frys, or pickled, like tonight.

Pickled Ginger

• 3″ piece ginger, peeled and sliced as thin as possible
• 1 radish, sliced as thin as possible
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp demerara sugar
• 1/4 cup black vinegar – or rice vinegar, white balsamic

Mix vinegar with salt and sugar. Pour over ginger and radish and let set about 2 hours. The longer it sets, the better it is. It can be refrigerated for weeks.

The fish was cod marinated in vaguely Asian spices and baked.

Baked Cod

• cod fillets
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine or dry sherry
• 2 tbsp sambal oelek or to taste
• 1″ peeled fresh ginger, minced
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 2 scallions, chopped
• black sesame seeds

Mix soy sauce, rice wine, sambal oelek, minced ginger, and sesame oil. Pour over fish and marinate at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Remove fish from marinade and place in an oven-proof dish or pan. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until fish easily flakes.

Top cooked fish with pickled radishes, pickled ginger, chopped scallions, and sesame seeds.

The pickled ginger really made the dish. It would be good without them – it was excellent with them!

On to Week Forty-Seven.