As for Week Four, there are definitely a couple things I could improve on. I noticed that during this week, I wasn't eating the five meals a day that I'm supposed to be doing on this diet plan, and this meant that I was consuming far less than 2000 calories per day. Tomorrow, I'm going to have to make another meal plan and do things differently. Though PB and J is very delicious, I fear that because it's easy to prepare, I've been eating too much of it.
I also discovered the danger with eating meals just before going to bed. On Friday, I had far less calories during the day than I should have, so out of spite, I came home from work and had toast and jam, and a big bowl of cereal. Then I went to bed a half an hour later, and the next morning had gained 1.5 pounds. We'll do our best not to repeat that.
So, here we are at 10.3 pounds in four weeks. I think that is just wonderful, all things considered. And it can all be done by eating good, healthy, natural foods, and without entirely cutting out the things we really enjoy. Last night, we had creme brulee with our dinner, which is NOT low cal at all, and because we ate it early enough in the evening, and probably because we did such a wonderful workout yesterday morning, it resulted in me neither gaining nor losing anything. And that is perfectly okay by me.
2/7/10
Good Food, Good Friends
To be honest, I could not have had a more perfect dinner tonight. Granted, it required me deboning a rabbit yesterday, and then preparing many different ingredients today for the stew, but it was so incredibly worth it.
And this is where I am particularly grateful for my fiancee's sister. She gave us a vanilla bean--which apparently are not cheap, especially good ones--and showed me step-by-step how to make the creme brulee. It was so awesome, and I learned wonderful tips about making finicky desserts like custard.
But the dinner itself was just perfect. We started with a salad that the friends brought, which ended up being perfect for the meal and was incredibly delicious. And then we went for the stew, which I was eternally grateful for adding potatoes and carrots to, otherwise there would have never been 4 bowls of it. And, of course, the desert was really hard to top. In fact, the friends who were over were concerned about how they would beat the stew and dessert. It made me happy, and made my fiancee happy, as well.
In light of such a glorious evening, spending hours with friends, talking about anything all while enjoying good food, it just makes a person not too concerned about the inevitable weight can that is to be achieved by all this. No worries on my part. I know I worked out hard this morning, and that a person who likes food as much as I do deserves a creme brulee every once in a while. Perhaps even again on Monday when we have another with the beuf bourguignon.
And this is where I am particularly grateful for my fiancee's sister. She gave us a vanilla bean--which apparently are not cheap, especially good ones--and showed me step-by-step how to make the creme brulee. It was so awesome, and I learned wonderful tips about making finicky desserts like custard.
But the dinner itself was just perfect. We started with a salad that the friends brought, which ended up being perfect for the meal and was incredibly delicious. And then we went for the stew, which I was eternally grateful for adding potatoes and carrots to, otherwise there would have never been 4 bowls of it. And, of course, the desert was really hard to top. In fact, the friends who were over were concerned about how they would beat the stew and dessert. It made me happy, and made my fiancee happy, as well.
In light of such a glorious evening, spending hours with friends, talking about anything all while enjoying good food, it just makes a person not too concerned about the inevitable weight can that is to be achieved by all this. No worries on my part. I know I worked out hard this morning, and that a person who likes food as much as I do deserves a creme brulee every once in a while. Perhaps even again on Monday when we have another with the beuf bourguignon.
2/5/10
Make Hollandaise Sauce or Debone a Rabbit. Choose One, Sinner!
I started the daube de lapin today, which meant I had to run to the store and buy a few ingredients. Considering I'm also going to be making beuf bourguignon this Monday, I also bought all the ingredients for that.
But first, I had to debone a rabbit. Yeah, get a knife and cut all the major muscle groups from his little frame. I watched a few people on YouTube do it, and of course they did it in less than 6 minutes. I was hacking away for a good half an hour. The thing that sucks about rabbit compared to beef is you really need the entire rabbit if you're hoping to get enough meat for four to eat, while with beef, an entire roast might come from a single muscle of the steer.
I did my best to get as much meat as I could off the little guy, but I had a really bad, cheap knife, and I was grossly inexperienced. And for what I could recover, I also had to cut away the outer sinewy parts, so that just resulted in a waste of more meat. All in all, I ended up hacking away probably 1.5 pounds of meat, while I fear I needed three. I would have tried to get more meat off his little arms, or try to harvest more from the scraps of sinew and fat laying around my counter, but it would have been far more work for maybe another mouthful of meat, and whatever meat was still laying around my counter had basically been reduced to bunny burger anyway.
So I went to Harmon's, hoping to find more bunny meat there. They told me it was illegal for them to keep wild meat (like rabbit and other things a person would hunt) with traditional things like burger and chicken. They were kind enough to direct me to the stewing beef, though, for the beuf bourguinon.
And then in the produce, I found I have a moral objection to buying an entire bunch of parsely so that I could use two sprigs of it for my rabbit marinade. So I just pulled two sprigs from a bunch, wrapped them in a produce plastic bag, and stuffed the bundle in my pocket. A five finger discount for a couple pennies' worth of parsley never hurt anyone, and I'm sure Harmon's will recover from their loss.
In light of the low amount of rabbit meat, we're going to have to add baby red potatos and carrots to the stew to make it a good meal. Considering the marinade that will also become the broth, I think these additions will suit everything rather nicely.
Oh yeah, and another thing unrelated to this happened to me yesterday, and possibly again today. I found out the reason why I'm suddenly dropping weight rather rapidly is because I'm not eating as many calories as I should. The bare minimum for someone like me is 2000 calories per day, and yesterday I ate about 1200 to 1400 calories. This means it's very possible that I'm losing something more than fat. At least I know tomorrow won't be a problem with hitting the calorie threshold.
But first, I had to debone a rabbit. Yeah, get a knife and cut all the major muscle groups from his little frame. I watched a few people on YouTube do it, and of course they did it in less than 6 minutes. I was hacking away for a good half an hour. The thing that sucks about rabbit compared to beef is you really need the entire rabbit if you're hoping to get enough meat for four to eat, while with beef, an entire roast might come from a single muscle of the steer.
I did my best to get as much meat as I could off the little guy, but I had a really bad, cheap knife, and I was grossly inexperienced. And for what I could recover, I also had to cut away the outer sinewy parts, so that just resulted in a waste of more meat. All in all, I ended up hacking away probably 1.5 pounds of meat, while I fear I needed three. I would have tried to get more meat off his little arms, or try to harvest more from the scraps of sinew and fat laying around my counter, but it would have been far more work for maybe another mouthful of meat, and whatever meat was still laying around my counter had basically been reduced to bunny burger anyway.
So I went to Harmon's, hoping to find more bunny meat there. They told me it was illegal for them to keep wild meat (like rabbit and other things a person would hunt) with traditional things like burger and chicken. They were kind enough to direct me to the stewing beef, though, for the beuf bourguinon.
And then in the produce, I found I have a moral objection to buying an entire bunch of parsely so that I could use two sprigs of it for my rabbit marinade. So I just pulled two sprigs from a bunch, wrapped them in a produce plastic bag, and stuffed the bundle in my pocket. A five finger discount for a couple pennies' worth of parsley never hurt anyone, and I'm sure Harmon's will recover from their loss.
In light of the low amount of rabbit meat, we're going to have to add baby red potatos and carrots to the stew to make it a good meal. Considering the marinade that will also become the broth, I think these additions will suit everything rather nicely.
Oh yeah, and another thing unrelated to this happened to me yesterday, and possibly again today. I found out the reason why I'm suddenly dropping weight rather rapidly is because I'm not eating as many calories as I should. The bare minimum for someone like me is 2000 calories per day, and yesterday I ate about 1200 to 1400 calories. This means it's very possible that I'm losing something more than fat. At least I know tomorrow won't be a problem with hitting the calorie threshold.
2/4/10
A Loss for Words
For the first time in my life, I really just don't have much to write about today. Because I had nothing to eat, I ended up consuming a lot of bread products like a Belgian waffle for breakfast, PB and J for lunch, and a ham sandwich (and another PB and J) for dinner. It makes for perhaps too much bread, but it really is just one day. Tomorrow, when I start the daube de lapin marinating, will be far better.
2/3/10
An Empty Fridge
A movie came from Netflix today that I simply had to watch. So instead of going to the store and buying food, I figured I'd sit myself down on the couch and do absolutely nothing for about two hours. This ended up not being the wisest idea.
The reason why this was foolish is I have no food for tomorrow. Thursdays are always busy days for me, and I normally have to pack four of my meals, and right now I really don't have much to achieve that. Upon inspection of my fridge, I have Canadian bacon, and perhaps a turkey sausage link, some eggs, yogurt, and apple sauce. Any person could make one or two smaller meals from that, but definitely not five. Perhaps I'll have to go shopping after midnight when I'm off work to buy some odds and ends to tie those ingredients all together.
But I have been getting so excited about the daube de lapin I'm preparing on Saturday, and the beuf bourguignon on Monday. Even though all these things are pretty labor-intensive, I'm up for the challenge. To start, I have to remember to move my rabbit meat to the fridge tomorrow morning so it can thaw by Friday morning, where I'll be preparing the marinade.
How exciting!
But there is one thing that happened today related to weight loss, which is what this blog is supposed to be, rather than about all the food I eat normally. A friend at work asked how my program was going, and he recommended the HCG diet, testifying how he lost so much weight while on it, and how it's really not that expensive.
To be honest, 200 bucks for the program really isn't too much money if I had no other means to lose weight. However, I'm very leary about injecting pregnancy hormone into my body and then living off 500 calories a day. In my opinion, ANYONE who eats only 500 calories a day is bound to lose weight, and they are also bound to gain it all back when the scheduled shots are done and they incorporate normal amounts of food back into the diet. People say the hormone makes the body lose fat rather than muscle, but the reality is consuming nothing more than a chicken breast and five radishes in a day will make a person's metabolism plummet to an all-time low. This is why mostly everyone gains back the weight they lost in just a few months.
But there is even a better reason for not even considering the HCG diet. I like good food. I like preparing it and eating it, and sharing it with friends and family. This type of lifestyle is definitely what I prefer and refuse to give up, even if it would only be for a short time with the HCG diet. Losing weight a little at a time, like I'm doing, is what produces lasting results, so that's what I'm going to stick with.
The reason why this was foolish is I have no food for tomorrow. Thursdays are always busy days for me, and I normally have to pack four of my meals, and right now I really don't have much to achieve that. Upon inspection of my fridge, I have Canadian bacon, and perhaps a turkey sausage link, some eggs, yogurt, and apple sauce. Any person could make one or two smaller meals from that, but definitely not five. Perhaps I'll have to go shopping after midnight when I'm off work to buy some odds and ends to tie those ingredients all together.
But I have been getting so excited about the daube de lapin I'm preparing on Saturday, and the beuf bourguignon on Monday. Even though all these things are pretty labor-intensive, I'm up for the challenge. To start, I have to remember to move my rabbit meat to the fridge tomorrow morning so it can thaw by Friday morning, where I'll be preparing the marinade.
How exciting!
But there is one thing that happened today related to weight loss, which is what this blog is supposed to be, rather than about all the food I eat normally. A friend at work asked how my program was going, and he recommended the HCG diet, testifying how he lost so much weight while on it, and how it's really not that expensive.
To be honest, 200 bucks for the program really isn't too much money if I had no other means to lose weight. However, I'm very leary about injecting pregnancy hormone into my body and then living off 500 calories a day. In my opinion, ANYONE who eats only 500 calories a day is bound to lose weight, and they are also bound to gain it all back when the scheduled shots are done and they incorporate normal amounts of food back into the diet. People say the hormone makes the body lose fat rather than muscle, but the reality is consuming nothing more than a chicken breast and five radishes in a day will make a person's metabolism plummet to an all-time low. This is why mostly everyone gains back the weight they lost in just a few months.
But there is even a better reason for not even considering the HCG diet. I like good food. I like preparing it and eating it, and sharing it with friends and family. This type of lifestyle is definitely what I prefer and refuse to give up, even if it would only be for a short time with the HCG diet. Losing weight a little at a time, like I'm doing, is what produces lasting results, so that's what I'm going to stick with.
2/2/10
Moving Up in Life
I made an important decision yesterday regarding my kitchen and its gadgets. You see, last night my sister made everyone a delicious, healthy dinner, and it was all done in a crock pot with tons and tons of leftovers. I longingly stared at the crock pot and thought of all the wonderful, easy meals I could be doing for myself, being as I try to prepare a few of them during the week in mass amounts.
So my fiancee and I went out and bought one. I was expecting to drop 50 bucks on this purchase, but at WalMart they're selling some that appear completely functional (considering my sister has the very same one) for 25 bucks. And I can afford that. Of course, it's every married couple's dream to have about four or five crock pots gifted to them at their wedding reception, but this will be just one more thing we're not registering for, and one more thing of which we won't need an additional after the wedding day.
But the funny thing is we're entertaining friends on Saturday and Monday, and I just realized that we can use the crock pot for the main dishes we were already planning to prepare. How awesome is that!
So my fiancee and I went out and bought one. I was expecting to drop 50 bucks on this purchase, but at WalMart they're selling some that appear completely functional (considering my sister has the very same one) for 25 bucks. And I can afford that. Of course, it's every married couple's dream to have about four or five crock pots gifted to them at their wedding reception, but this will be just one more thing we're not registering for, and one more thing of which we won't need an additional after the wedding day.
But the funny thing is we're entertaining friends on Saturday and Monday, and I just realized that we can use the crock pot for the main dishes we were already planning to prepare. How awesome is that!
2/1/10
Thank Goodness for Chiropractors
Firstly, three cheers for my friend Hernan who made the new banner I'm using as the title of the blog. He's incredible.
Moving on, I've been having back pains while sleep at night for the past few months, and with some convincing from my fiancee, I went to have it checked out.
The chiropractor said mine is an unusual case, and I don't feel I need to disclose all my personal medical history on this blog. However, among other things, I don't have enough curve in my spine, which leads to headaches, and back pain while lying flat. It's a nice thing to know, and now I have to ice my back twice or three times a day until my next visit next Monday.
But I did make a wonderful investment today. I bought my own kettlebell. It's a 26 pound-er so I can do at least most of a workout here at my home rather than having to drive all the way to work on days I don't absolutely have to be there. This will cut back on gas for my vehicle, and also on my insanity from having to go to the lab every single day to work out. 45 bucks is definitely worth that much.
The blog post that appeared just before this one should actually have been posted yesterday. For reasons I don't understand, it only saved it as a draft, and I had to post it today.
Moving on, I've been having back pains while sleep at night for the past few months, and with some convincing from my fiancee, I went to have it checked out.
The chiropractor said mine is an unusual case, and I don't feel I need to disclose all my personal medical history on this blog. However, among other things, I don't have enough curve in my spine, which leads to headaches, and back pain while lying flat. It's a nice thing to know, and now I have to ice my back twice or three times a day until my next visit next Monday.
But I did make a wonderful investment today. I bought my own kettlebell. It's a 26 pound-er so I can do at least most of a workout here at my home rather than having to drive all the way to work on days I don't absolutely have to be there. This will cut back on gas for my vehicle, and also on my insanity from having to go to the lab every single day to work out. 45 bucks is definitely worth that much.
The blog post that appeared just before this one should actually have been posted yesterday. For reasons I don't understand, it only saved it as a draft, and I had to post it today.
Oatmeal Banana Bread
And it's the end of another week. To be completely honest, I'm pretty excited that compared to last Sunday, I'm down another pound. I was expecting nothing, so I'm excited for this little triumph.
Again, I feel this past week has been great. I've been very good on my diet, and I've worked out most every day. Considering I'm only scheduled to work out four times a week, more than that is improvement. And the kettlebell system has been such a blessing.
Also, I feel I get another gold star for the amazing things I've made this past week. Fish fried in butter. Amazing baked omelets. The oatmeal banana bread cake my sister and I perfected yesterday, the one that had no refined sugar and no oil, tons of oatmeal, and wonderful healthy goodness. Sometimes it's hard to go three weeks without any cake, and it's nice to know there is a delicious alternative.
I have also been strong against temptation this week, refusing cake or ice cream cake three or four times, and I'll be doing it again tonight.
Let's thank our lucky stars for this one pound weight loss, and the lessons I've learned that simple sugars make a person put on weight that then takes an entire week of hard work to shed again.
Again, I feel this past week has been great. I've been very good on my diet, and I've worked out most every day. Considering I'm only scheduled to work out four times a week, more than that is improvement. And the kettlebell system has been such a blessing.
Also, I feel I get another gold star for the amazing things I've made this past week. Fish fried in butter. Amazing baked omelets. The oatmeal banana bread cake my sister and I perfected yesterday, the one that had no refined sugar and no oil, tons of oatmeal, and wonderful healthy goodness. Sometimes it's hard to go three weeks without any cake, and it's nice to know there is a delicious alternative.
I have also been strong against temptation this week, refusing cake or ice cream cake three or four times, and I'll be doing it again tonight.
Let's thank our lucky stars for this one pound weight loss, and the lessons I've learned that simple sugars make a person put on weight that then takes an entire week of hard work to shed again.
1/30/10
The Devil is Eggs Benedict
I decided to make my sister a lovely, delicate breakfast of eggs Benedict this morning, thinking that cooking really isn't turning out to be all that difficult, and an inexperienced cook like myself can turn out some pretty good tasting things.
I started with the hollandaise sauce. Setting up my makeshift double boiler, I threw two egg yolks into the top and started whisking. It's very possible that the water was boiling too rapidly, or I'm just an idiot, but the egg yolks cooked much faster than I anticipated, which meant that when I added the butter, nothing incorporated like it should have. It ended up being an buttery egg drop soup.
So I threw it out and tried again, this time mixing all the ingredients before adding them to the double boiler. Perhaps I was not whisking enough, perhaps the water was too hot yet again, but the second try was only slightly better than the first. It tasted just lovely, but the texture was all wrong. I think the next time I try this, I'm going to bring my electric hand mixer to the double boiler, and hopefully that would make a difference.
And then I poached the eggs. I prepared each egg by cracking it in a cup and setting each cup near the two pots of boiling water I had going. Because I was to poach four eggs, I had a much larger pot for three of them, and then left the smaller pot I made my double boiler from on the stove and used it as a second. I added vinegar to the water, then I took a deep breath.
I grabbed the first cup of egg in my hand and let it plop from a height of several inches above the surface of the water. As an experienced cook would suspect, the egg dove straight down where it splatted all over the bottom of the pot. It resembled how we would imagine a yellow comet with a white tail. This made the yolk cook weirdly, and the whites ended up looking more friend than boiled.
I transferred the eggs out with a slotted spoon, which was so much more difficult than the YouTube videos made it look. Because I didn't have any paper towel, I had to use a normal, clean wash cloth and try to move everything from the water to the towel without breaking the yolks.
It was then that my sister called and said she'd be an hour late.
Moving the eggs from a cloth back to some hot water to preserve them was horrible. The wash cloth proved to cling right to the delicate whites of the eggs and simply wouldn't let them go. And it left purple strings on them that I had to pull off. Once my sister got here, I fished the eggs out of the water a second time and put them on a different cloth--one not so furry--and only managed to break one of my yolks and one of hers when I put them on a toasted English muffin smeared with sun dried tomato pesto and topped with Canadian bacon. The hollandaise was even less attractive. Because it had separated into a liquid of butter and egg yolk flocculation, the yellow stuck all over the egg and bread, and the butter just kinda spread out all over the plate.
But it tasted very delicious, and we were all grateful to be eating it.
Then I introduced my sister to a kettlebell routine. We were there less than one half hour, and she's now in love. She said how much she loved to get such a good workout for all parts of her body in such little time. We went online and started shopping for some so she can add kettlebells to her exercise room at home.
I started with the hollandaise sauce. Setting up my makeshift double boiler, I threw two egg yolks into the top and started whisking. It's very possible that the water was boiling too rapidly, or I'm just an idiot, but the egg yolks cooked much faster than I anticipated, which meant that when I added the butter, nothing incorporated like it should have. It ended up being an buttery egg drop soup.
So I threw it out and tried again, this time mixing all the ingredients before adding them to the double boiler. Perhaps I was not whisking enough, perhaps the water was too hot yet again, but the second try was only slightly better than the first. It tasted just lovely, but the texture was all wrong. I think the next time I try this, I'm going to bring my electric hand mixer to the double boiler, and hopefully that would make a difference.
And then I poached the eggs. I prepared each egg by cracking it in a cup and setting each cup near the two pots of boiling water I had going. Because I was to poach four eggs, I had a much larger pot for three of them, and then left the smaller pot I made my double boiler from on the stove and used it as a second. I added vinegar to the water, then I took a deep breath.
I grabbed the first cup of egg in my hand and let it plop from a height of several inches above the surface of the water. As an experienced cook would suspect, the egg dove straight down where it splatted all over the bottom of the pot. It resembled how we would imagine a yellow comet with a white tail. This made the yolk cook weirdly, and the whites ended up looking more friend than boiled.
I transferred the eggs out with a slotted spoon, which was so much more difficult than the YouTube videos made it look. Because I didn't have any paper towel, I had to use a normal, clean wash cloth and try to move everything from the water to the towel without breaking the yolks.
It was then that my sister called and said she'd be an hour late.
Moving the eggs from a cloth back to some hot water to preserve them was horrible. The wash cloth proved to cling right to the delicate whites of the eggs and simply wouldn't let them go. And it left purple strings on them that I had to pull off. Once my sister got here, I fished the eggs out of the water a second time and put them on a different cloth--one not so furry--and only managed to break one of my yolks and one of hers when I put them on a toasted English muffin smeared with sun dried tomato pesto and topped with Canadian bacon. The hollandaise was even less attractive. Because it had separated into a liquid of butter and egg yolk flocculation, the yellow stuck all over the egg and bread, and the butter just kinda spread out all over the plate.
But it tasted very delicious, and we were all grateful to be eating it.
Then I introduced my sister to a kettlebell routine. We were there less than one half hour, and she's now in love. She said how much she loved to get such a good workout for all parts of her body in such little time. We went online and started shopping for some so she can add kettlebells to her exercise room at home.
1/29/10
Baked Omelettes
Today was the first day of me cooking breakfast for my friends. And to say the least, I think it was absolutely delicious.
What I did was this. I browned onions in a skillet with some sun dried tomatoes and added spinach right at the end. I scooped this mix to the bottoms of three ramekins, added three whipped eggs, topped them with feta, and baked them. I thought they'd only need to be in the oven for twenty minutes, but 45 is what did the trick. Then I sprinkled brown sugar over grapefruit halves and baked them for a few minutes, just enough time for the sugar to melt into the flesh of the grapefruit. The combination was surprisingly perfect, and everyone was pleased.
I'm actually excited to cook for my sister in the morning. We're going to have eggs benedict, and I'm planning on making everything, including the hollandaise. I'm kind of concerned about poaching the eggs--the act seems strange and unnatural to me, and the eggs are so delicate when poached--but I'm going to meet this challenge without shying away.
As for working out, I took the day off yesterday because I hadn't allotted myself a recovery day. Because of things at work this evening, I didn't work out tonight, either. So I'll punch it hard tomorrow morning when I introduce my sister to kettlebells once we're done eating.
What I did was this. I browned onions in a skillet with some sun dried tomatoes and added spinach right at the end. I scooped this mix to the bottoms of three ramekins, added three whipped eggs, topped them with feta, and baked them. I thought they'd only need to be in the oven for twenty minutes, but 45 is what did the trick. Then I sprinkled brown sugar over grapefruit halves and baked them for a few minutes, just enough time for the sugar to melt into the flesh of the grapefruit. The combination was surprisingly perfect, and everyone was pleased.
I'm actually excited to cook for my sister in the morning. We're going to have eggs benedict, and I'm planning on making everything, including the hollandaise. I'm kind of concerned about poaching the eggs--the act seems strange and unnatural to me, and the eggs are so delicate when poached--but I'm going to meet this challenge without shying away.
As for working out, I took the day off yesterday because I hadn't allotted myself a recovery day. Because of things at work this evening, I didn't work out tonight, either. So I'll punch it hard tomorrow morning when I introduce my sister to kettlebells once we're done eating.
1/28/10
Breakfast Eve
Every Friday morning, two of my friends and I go out to have breakfast at one of our favorite restaurants. Recently, we noticed we could save a notable amount of money by simply having one of us (me) cook for the group and having the rest of us contribute ingredients. So tomorrow is when this new plan is going to start. That means I have to wake up early to start cooking, and I have to go to the store right after work to get some ingredients, but it'll be fun. Honestly, I'm excited.
I've also come to grips with the fact that I probably won't be losing much weight this week, compared to last Sunday morning. And you know what, that is alright. This is one thing that I will not allow myself to get discouraged about, otherwise I will lose interest and modivation. That means this week may have little more than half a pound overall weight loss, but it'll still be some weight. And I've learned my lesson about the dangers of a good binge on birthday cake.
I've also come to grips with the fact that I probably won't be losing much weight this week, compared to last Sunday morning. And you know what, that is alright. This is one thing that I will not allow myself to get discouraged about, otherwise I will lose interest and modivation. That means this week may have little more than half a pound overall weight loss, but it'll still be some weight. And I've learned my lesson about the dangers of a good binge on birthday cake.
1/27/10
Playing with Fire
As I was looking in my freezer the other day, I noticed I still had a massive amount of tilapia that I simply had to use. So I did some research and found a fantastic recipe for fish tacos. All the ingredients were natural and fresh, and things appeared to be pretty good.
And I spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon before going in to work cooking and preparing these fish tacos. You all might cringe when you realize how the tilapia was prepared. After marinating the fish in lime for several hours, I cut it into chunks, dusted it with flour, dunked it in egg, then bread crumbs and FRIED IT IN PURE, UNADULTERATED BUTTER! I can't believe I actually find justification in this by thinking it was butter rather than hydrogenated oils that these fishies fry in. Two and a half sticks.
Once the chunks are browned on both sides, they are transfered to a paper towel to get rid of excess butter, then I baste them with a glaze made of honey, olive oil, cumin, and lime. I was amazed at how delicious it was.
It's eaten on a tortilla, and topped with a slaw blend, and topped with chipotle sauce if desired.
I guess a good thing is because everything is fried in butter, it sits in my stomach like a rock, and I can only handle a little bit of it. If I end up gaining tons of weight from this, it may be the end to frying things in butter as we know it.
And I spent the entire morning and part of the afternoon before going in to work cooking and preparing these fish tacos. You all might cringe when you realize how the tilapia was prepared. After marinating the fish in lime for several hours, I cut it into chunks, dusted it with flour, dunked it in egg, then bread crumbs and FRIED IT IN PURE, UNADULTERATED BUTTER! I can't believe I actually find justification in this by thinking it was butter rather than hydrogenated oils that these fishies fry in. Two and a half sticks.
Once the chunks are browned on both sides, they are transfered to a paper towel to get rid of excess butter, then I baste them with a glaze made of honey, olive oil, cumin, and lime. I was amazed at how delicious it was.
It's eaten on a tortilla, and topped with a slaw blend, and topped with chipotle sauce if desired.
I guess a good thing is because everything is fried in butter, it sits in my stomach like a rock, and I can only handle a little bit of it. If I end up gaining tons of weight from this, it may be the end to frying things in butter as we know it.
1/26/10
Doubles
I actually did two workouts today. That's right; two. This morning after aiding a student lab and going to the wellness center like I normally do on Tuesdays, I did a nice general kettlebell workout. And then later tonight, I did another with a friend from work, focusing on my arms. That means we're lucky I can even type this.
I've decided to try a new recipe starting tomorrow that I am so stoked about. Fish tacos. Considering all the tilapia I have frozen in my freezer, it sounds so delicious. It'll be served with a cilantro sauce and a chipotle sauce. How perfect.
Hopefully I'm one step closer to shedding the weight I gained Sunday.
I've decided to try a new recipe starting tomorrow that I am so stoked about. Fish tacos. Considering all the tilapia I have frozen in my freezer, it sounds so delicious. It'll be served with a cilantro sauce and a chipotle sauce. How perfect.
Hopefully I'm one step closer to shedding the weight I gained Sunday.
1/25/10
Birthday Cake, and Such...
Every time I use the Wii Fit, it tests my balance, takes my BMI, and shows my current weight. On any day I've gained one pound or more, it makes me explain myself to it as if it were my personal trainer. The screen changes to a word bank of options like "I ate too much," "I snacked too much," or "I ate a big meal before going to bed." And I'm forced to choose one of them. Then it prepares two graphs; one with my BMI, the other with my weight progress, taking everything day-to-day. And my Mii, the little fat dude who embodies everything I am as a cartoon animation, stands at the bottom of the screen. If I hover the cursor over a day of significant weight gain, a word bubble pops out of his mouth as if he were saying, "I ate too much," or "I ate too much before bed." That way, these little failures are forever logged away into the Wii memory so I will never forget them.
Since last night, I gained 2.2 pounds. So I had to hang my head in shame and explain to the Wii Fit why it happened.
I think it's unfair that "Birthday Cake" is not an option. I feel Nintendo should build into the software a selection of special occasions where a person could blimp out and not feel too bad about it. These could include "Financee's Birthday Cake," or "Anniversary Dinner," or "Bad Day at the Office." After selecting one of these, the Wii Fit could take you to another screen where you rate just how good the cake was--or the donuts and rootbeer, if it were from stress at work--and if your weight gain was proportional to how good the cake was, the Wii Fit Balance Board (the host of the program) could give your Mii a high-five. Or a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, of it was because of the office.
Perhaps I'll be writing Nintendo a letter.
Either way, I have an additional 2ish pounds to lose. If this ends up being a repeat of last week, then I'm not too worried about it. But, it does mean that if I wish to be down at least 2 pounds from Sunday's reading, I have to lose 4 pounds this week. Considering I'll be doing kettlebell workouts everyday at work, sometimes twice a day, I'm confident it'll come off like it did last week.
I decided to start things off seriously today by doing an hour kettlebell workout at the wellness center this morning. While the whole "one hour" idea didn't happen, the challenging workout definitely did. I feel there comes a time when it's best to just stop exercising before killing myself, and that came about 35 minutes into the workout. When I finally stopped and drove home, I actually felt sick to my stomach for about 20 minutes. Though a total one hour workout on kettlebells may be yet in the future, it's comforting to know that I can work myself out nearly to death with 30 minutes of kettlebells, rather than an hour of running, and with more significant benefits.
Since last night, I gained 2.2 pounds. So I had to hang my head in shame and explain to the Wii Fit why it happened.
I think it's unfair that "Birthday Cake" is not an option. I feel Nintendo should build into the software a selection of special occasions where a person could blimp out and not feel too bad about it. These could include "Financee's Birthday Cake," or "Anniversary Dinner," or "Bad Day at the Office." After selecting one of these, the Wii Fit could take you to another screen where you rate just how good the cake was--or the donuts and rootbeer, if it were from stress at work--and if your weight gain was proportional to how good the cake was, the Wii Fit Balance Board (the host of the program) could give your Mii a high-five. Or a sympathetic pat on the shoulder, of it was because of the office.
Perhaps I'll be writing Nintendo a letter.
Either way, I have an additional 2ish pounds to lose. If this ends up being a repeat of last week, then I'm not too worried about it. But, it does mean that if I wish to be down at least 2 pounds from Sunday's reading, I have to lose 4 pounds this week. Considering I'll be doing kettlebell workouts everyday at work, sometimes twice a day, I'm confident it'll come off like it did last week.
I decided to start things off seriously today by doing an hour kettlebell workout at the wellness center this morning. While the whole "one hour" idea didn't happen, the challenging workout definitely did. I feel there comes a time when it's best to just stop exercising before killing myself, and that came about 35 minutes into the workout. When I finally stopped and drove home, I actually felt sick to my stomach for about 20 minutes. Though a total one hour workout on kettlebells may be yet in the future, it's comforting to know that I can work myself out nearly to death with 30 minutes of kettlebells, rather than an hour of running, and with more significant benefits.
1/24/10
Chinese Food and a Brown Betty
Again, here comes the time where I sit back and evaluate the week's progress.
As mentioned in a previous post, I figured I'd be doing most of my losing throughout the week, and then gaining some of it back on the weekends. Week two was no exception. Even though my finacee and I had a wonderful time at the gym, it still wasn't proactive enough to counter the effects of Chinese food and a Brown Betty that we would be eating last night.
Even though portion control was not an issue--I only had one plate of food and stopped--I figure all the simple sugars in the ice cream and Brown Betty (a type of apple cobbler) were the things that done me in again. It gives pause to consider if that meal and dessert were worth the pound and a half I gained back from it.
My goal for next Saturday is to at least maintain the weight I have on Friday, rather than add to it.
The workouts have been going well. I'm going to start doing kettlebells every night at work with the new group I've joined, so that means I'll be doing an additional four workouts this week, some two a day. This may be overkill, but I'll see how it goes. I think it'll still be worth it. If I end up hurting myself by the end of the week, then I'll cut back on something. Easy as that.
So, for this previous week, I've lost 2.9 pounds, which is still more than my weekly goal, and is still very admirable. I feel I've done well.
As mentioned in a previous post, I figured I'd be doing most of my losing throughout the week, and then gaining some of it back on the weekends. Week two was no exception. Even though my finacee and I had a wonderful time at the gym, it still wasn't proactive enough to counter the effects of Chinese food and a Brown Betty that we would be eating last night.
Even though portion control was not an issue--I only had one plate of food and stopped--I figure all the simple sugars in the ice cream and Brown Betty (a type of apple cobbler) were the things that done me in again. It gives pause to consider if that meal and dessert were worth the pound and a half I gained back from it.
My goal for next Saturday is to at least maintain the weight I have on Friday, rather than add to it.
The workouts have been going well. I'm going to start doing kettlebells every night at work with the new group I've joined, so that means I'll be doing an additional four workouts this week, some two a day. This may be overkill, but I'll see how it goes. I think it'll still be worth it. If I end up hurting myself by the end of the week, then I'll cut back on something. Easy as that.
So, for this previous week, I've lost 2.9 pounds, which is still more than my weekly goal, and is still very admirable. I feel I've done well.
1/23/10
Card Games
My fiancee came down, and we decided to start off the day by going to the gym. While there, instead of doing the normal elliptical and random weight sets, I decided we'd play a card game, something that makes any workout with a friend far more entertaining.
At the wellness center, there is a back room we occupied and brought in mats, medicine balls, and a couple other things for our activity. After a 5 minute warm up, the games began. What we did was select 8 exercises, 4 of which could be done high-rep, the other four typically done in sets of 12. So, out a standard deck of cards, I drew, and my fiancee would have to do whatever the card dictated, and at the same time she drew for me. For number cards, each suit represented a different high-rep exercise, and the number represented how many of that exercise the person had to do. Each face card represented an exercise with a set number of reps (which were typically more difficult). Of course, I got stuck with most of the face cards, including all 4 aces, and Steph got practically nothing but high-rep numbers. We went through until the pile was out. It ended up being a rather enjoyable 30 minute workout.
At the wellness center, there is a back room we occupied and brought in mats, medicine balls, and a couple other things for our activity. After a 5 minute warm up, the games began. What we did was select 8 exercises, 4 of which could be done high-rep, the other four typically done in sets of 12. So, out a standard deck of cards, I drew, and my fiancee would have to do whatever the card dictated, and at the same time she drew for me. For number cards, each suit represented a different high-rep exercise, and the number represented how many of that exercise the person had to do. Each face card represented an exercise with a set number of reps (which were typically more difficult). Of course, I got stuck with most of the face cards, including all 4 aces, and Steph got practically nothing but high-rep numbers. We went through until the pile was out. It ended up being a rather enjoyable 30 minute workout.
1/22/10
Kettlebells
Yesterday was the first day this week that I did not do 12 reps of all exercises requiring that number while working out. The first reason is I forgot to bring my workout routines with me when I came in to the wellness center, which means I just kinda had to pull parts of different routines from my head. I still exercised pretty well, however. The other reason I didn't put my heart and soul into the workout is because I knew I'd be exercising again that night.
Every evening around 11:15, a group of girls at work go down to the wellness center and do a routine of kettlebells, something I'd never done before. And then all of them rant and rave about how awesome it works you out, and how amazing you feel afterward. Last night I figured, what the heck! And I went down and joined them, being the only man among them.
The workout really was the best I've had in many months (all things considered). And it was all total body movement, which means I was working so many muscles in my body at once, which beats the pants off traditional weight lifting. I wasn't able to do all they were doing mostly because I wasn't used to swinging that weight around, and because the girl in charge who might as well be a fitness coach said she wanted to watch my technique to make sure I wouldn't strain my back. Very nice of her.
When the routine was done, which lasted less than 20 minutes, I found I couldn't even step down the stairs to go out to my car without some difficulty. And now today, I'm really feeling it in my legs.
So I think I'll do it again tonight.
Every evening around 11:15, a group of girls at work go down to the wellness center and do a routine of kettlebells, something I'd never done before. And then all of them rant and rave about how awesome it works you out, and how amazing you feel afterward. Last night I figured, what the heck! And I went down and joined them, being the only man among them.
The workout really was the best I've had in many months (all things considered). And it was all total body movement, which means I was working so many muscles in my body at once, which beats the pants off traditional weight lifting. I wasn't able to do all they were doing mostly because I wasn't used to swinging that weight around, and because the girl in charge who might as well be a fitness coach said she wanted to watch my technique to make sure I wouldn't strain my back. Very nice of her.
When the routine was done, which lasted less than 20 minutes, I found I couldn't even step down the stairs to go out to my car without some difficulty. And now today, I'm really feeling it in my legs.
So I think I'll do it again tonight.
1/21/10
The Glory of Peanut Butter
During this diet, I have had an uncanny craving for a good, old fashioned PB and J, so I tailored my diet to include a PB and J every day.
So I went on the hunt for natural peanut butter, not the regular Jiffy with tons of sugar and other oils that make it a delightful spread. I bought Adam's brand peanut butter simply because the only ingredient on the back was PEANUTS! It required mixing, and it had an initial strange texture, but once I got past that I found it had the same delicious flavor as most of the other peanut butters.
I was talking to a friend last night about my diet and workout program, and calorie counting came up as it typically does when discussing diets with others. We figured that an entire PB and J had to have at least 400 calories, and that if going low-cal was the goal, these yummy little sandwiches were normally the first to go.
My program says not to be a fanatic about calorie counting (which I definitely can say that I hate doing, and love the fact that this program recommends being "calorie conscious" rather than worrisome). This leads to me not paying attention to food labels as much as just eating natural, healthy food. But as I sat at my table after work last night, I figured I might as well figure my caloric intake just to get a good bearing. Using Google's food calculator, I went around and looked at the labels of food I bought. Because I knew exactly how much of each food I was consuming, figuring the total caloric daily consumption was easy.
And here was the good news:
One day of normal meals as I have them planned out, including one daily PB and J with a small glass of organic 2% milk--which is surprisingly tasty--equated to between 2,000 and 2,100 calories per day. And a person my height, weight, and age requires exactly that to maintain a healthy weight loss!
Go me!
So I went on the hunt for natural peanut butter, not the regular Jiffy with tons of sugar and other oils that make it a delightful spread. I bought Adam's brand peanut butter simply because the only ingredient on the back was PEANUTS! It required mixing, and it had an initial strange texture, but once I got past that I found it had the same delicious flavor as most of the other peanut butters.
I was talking to a friend last night about my diet and workout program, and calorie counting came up as it typically does when discussing diets with others. We figured that an entire PB and J had to have at least 400 calories, and that if going low-cal was the goal, these yummy little sandwiches were normally the first to go.
My program says not to be a fanatic about calorie counting (which I definitely can say that I hate doing, and love the fact that this program recommends being "calorie conscious" rather than worrisome). This leads to me not paying attention to food labels as much as just eating natural, healthy food. But as I sat at my table after work last night, I figured I might as well figure my caloric intake just to get a good bearing. Using Google's food calculator, I went around and looked at the labels of food I bought. Because I knew exactly how much of each food I was consuming, figuring the total caloric daily consumption was easy.
And here was the good news:
One day of normal meals as I have them planned out, including one daily PB and J with a small glass of organic 2% milk--which is surprisingly tasty--equated to between 2,000 and 2,100 calories per day. And a person my height, weight, and age requires exactly that to maintain a healthy weight loss!
Go me!
1/20/10
Recovering from Fried Shrimp and Cheesecake
And I'm back in the 220's! What a relief. It really sucks that it took three days to drop the weight I gained on Saturday.
I went grocery shopping again today and spent what I would consider another sizeable amount of money on food. It's not that spending 50 bucks for an entire week of meals is much for anyone else who is used to cooking, but spending that much on food at one time is still hard for me to wrap my head around. But still, with preparing food as I am, I'm only eating out about one time a week, and I'm not blowing money on the grill at work, which is saving me between 5 and 10 bucks a shift. I figure I'm breaking even financially. If I'm eating better than before, then I consider it a plus.
Also, I'm becoming creative with my cooking abilities. Well, creative from a non-cooker perspective ends up being pathetic and unremarkable, but I'm getting better at what goes together to make a tasty but healthy meal. For instance, a tuna melt with onions browned in olive oil, then done up with green onions, chopped parsley, two cans of tuna, and then mixed together with cottage cheese and sliced grapes and served on a wrap or toasted bun makes for a wonderful meal. (Actually, I didn't add sliced grapes because I forgot to buy them. But it still sounds delicious.)
I continue to find that my body thinks it's not losing weight unless I'm hungry, which would lead me to eat less to maintain that hollow dieter's hole in the pit of my stomach. So I have to constantly remind myself that eating enough (a.k.a. NOT STARVING ALL THE TIME!) and exercising are what make it work. Going without food is bad. And eating crappy diet food is also bad.
There are my words of wisdom for the day.
I went grocery shopping again today and spent what I would consider another sizeable amount of money on food. It's not that spending 50 bucks for an entire week of meals is much for anyone else who is used to cooking, but spending that much on food at one time is still hard for me to wrap my head around. But still, with preparing food as I am, I'm only eating out about one time a week, and I'm not blowing money on the grill at work, which is saving me between 5 and 10 bucks a shift. I figure I'm breaking even financially. If I'm eating better than before, then I consider it a plus.
Also, I'm becoming creative with my cooking abilities. Well, creative from a non-cooker perspective ends up being pathetic and unremarkable, but I'm getting better at what goes together to make a tasty but healthy meal. For instance, a tuna melt with onions browned in olive oil, then done up with green onions, chopped parsley, two cans of tuna, and then mixed together with cottage cheese and sliced grapes and served on a wrap or toasted bun makes for a wonderful meal. (Actually, I didn't add sliced grapes because I forgot to buy them. But it still sounds delicious.)
I continue to find that my body thinks it's not losing weight unless I'm hungry, which would lead me to eat less to maintain that hollow dieter's hole in the pit of my stomach. So I have to constantly remind myself that eating enough (a.k.a. NOT STARVING ALL THE TIME!) and exercising are what make it work. Going without food is bad. And eating crappy diet food is also bad.
There are my words of wisdom for the day.
1/19/10
Advantages of Living Alone
Some of you might have noticed that I posted nothing yesterday. In my defence, I did at least change the weight tracker. I ended up being ridiculously busy, and what with the holiday and my finacee not having school, I had a full day planned.
And I really did not too bad considering we ate out at the Desert Star Theatre and had delicious pizza and a pina colada. The food really was great. Instead of losing tons yesterday, I ended up staying at about the same weight. Perhaps a little less.
This is the thought that hit me as I was preparing my meals last night: it is becoming apparent that if I expect to continue slipping down that rocky, painful road we call the BMI, I'm going to need to lose most of my weight during the week because with things as it is, I indefinitely will gain some of it back on the weekends.
That's what happens when you have a beautful future bride with a lovely family who all enjoy good food. To be perfectly fair, the things these people make for meals tend to have very natural ingredients, and everything is homemade and rather healthy. It's the desserts that stick me. It's hard to refuse homemade brownie-lava-fudge cakes, or raspberry pound cake, or lemon mousse, or chocolate marble cheesecake. These do me in every time. However, if I do go and visit family this weekend, I'm sure there will not be as many snacks as are at my sister's house, and I'll simply refuse to eat anything fried. There is a large possibility that we will have Thai food, and in my heart of hearts, I'm okay with that.
Tomorrow, in addition to about a billion other things I need to do before 1 pm, I need to make another shopping list for meals. The good news is I don't have to buy everything I bought last time because it seems the food I bought has lasted about 11ish days instead of just 7. Thank goodness.
And I really did not too bad considering we ate out at the Desert Star Theatre and had delicious pizza and a pina colada. The food really was great. Instead of losing tons yesterday, I ended up staying at about the same weight. Perhaps a little less.
This is the thought that hit me as I was preparing my meals last night: it is becoming apparent that if I expect to continue slipping down that rocky, painful road we call the BMI, I'm going to need to lose most of my weight during the week because with things as it is, I indefinitely will gain some of it back on the weekends.
That's what happens when you have a beautful future bride with a lovely family who all enjoy good food. To be perfectly fair, the things these people make for meals tend to have very natural ingredients, and everything is homemade and rather healthy. It's the desserts that stick me. It's hard to refuse homemade brownie-lava-fudge cakes, or raspberry pound cake, or lemon mousse, or chocolate marble cheesecake. These do me in every time. However, if I do go and visit family this weekend, I'm sure there will not be as many snacks as are at my sister's house, and I'll simply refuse to eat anything fried. There is a large possibility that we will have Thai food, and in my heart of hearts, I'm okay with that.
Tomorrow, in addition to about a billion other things I need to do before 1 pm, I need to make another shopping list for meals. The good news is I don't have to buy everything I bought last time because it seems the food I bought has lasted about 11ish days instead of just 7. Thank goodness.
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