atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Still not quite there…

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I didn’t workout yesterday to do some chores instead (still counts as burning calories, right?) but today is the desk peddler. I am able to easily do 40 minutes or more so I think it’s time I get back to running. I totally missed my goal of getting under 200 by the end of the month (I’m still around 203-204) and I am very impatient with myself.

wp-1677538013301Last night I made another sandwich and I have decided I do NOT like the turkey. Maybe it’s the brand but I find it slimy to eat and I will be sticking with roast beef.

This was my lunch today. My child decided to use up ALL the onion I was saving for my lunch so I used scallions to replace it. It was about the same so it’ll do if the kid decides to make another salad using a 3-pack of romaine at a time. Kid thinks I’m rich! A bag of romaine is $4 if I can get it cheap. Considering we eat salads multiple times a week, that’s a LOT of money.

Over the weekend, I tried tomahawk steak for the first time. Like a typical nearly middle-aged woman who likes to cook, I spend too much time online watching food/cooking videos and the first time I saw this cut, I was obsessed. I had to try it. I used a reverse sear with butter, rosemary, sage, thyme, and as much garlic as I wanted. The onions went in last and I served it over rice with all the juices. Absolutely amazing and of course, I am comfortably eating the leftovers. I did save the bone to make some broth later.

I think that catches me up with everything. Now, I need to look into growing massive amounts of lettuce because I birthed a voracious vegetable monster.

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Today’s Workout: “Participation”

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I ended up with a webinar that was two hours long so there was no way I was going to just sit there the entire time. That’s the good thing about these things being over Zoom; I can pay attention, reply, contribute, and still do the desk peddler (I kept my camera off). My job is sedentary enough but two hours and no break to be able to get up and move around? Yeah, I did some light cardio during it.

I had my typical lunch of baby bok choy and beef but Misfits Market is out of the regular bok choy so, I had to get the more ruffly kind and that’s a slightly different cook time. I gotta say, these are MUCH easier to clean and I didn’t find any little bugs in there. Dinner was more leftovers so no pictures of that.

I’m still not under 200 like I hoped to be by the end of the month but I also haven’t gained anything. I’m still around 203-204. What sucks is my health insurance is suddenly inflicting all these new requirements on me in order to get a refill on my Saxenda. It’s really annoying to finally have something that is working for me and I have to jump through all these hoops to get it when I need it.

Fortunately, I’ve been taking half doses or less and have some in reserve but this is really stupid and I hope my doctor’s office can work it out.

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Today’s Workouts: Make it a double

I had to get some light bulbs and bok choy (since Misfits Market ran out or something since they refunded me) so, one of my workouts was a quick walk to the store. After dinner, I got on the desk bike so I could get some writing done while I did my cardio. It felt pretty good to get in two workouts in a day but I don’t know if I would do that every single day. I still worry about overdoing it and ending up injured.

As for food, it was another round of leftovers for lunch and a salad for dinner. Not really picture worthy, to be honest. Unless you want repeated pictures of the same bowl of pasta I’m working on since the Saxenda won’t let me over eat. Later on in the week, I’ll make sure to do more weights. My arms are looking okay but I’d like to see more definition and build my strength up some more. 

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Workout and Food Photo Dump

I wasn’t on the ball with posting my workouts toward the end of this week so here they are with some examples of meals. I was able to get the sandwich to stand up straight but I wasn’t able to get roast beef and used turkey instead. It was ok, I much prefer roast beef.

As for my activity, I was able to squeeze in more steps on top of making sure every workout was 40 minutes or more. Next week, I’m going to try and push it to 45 minutes as well as more about more during the day. I got my Butcher Box so, I can give chicken a break for a bit and have some beef with my usual bok choy and ramen. I’m probably not going to get very experimental so forgive me if the food pics get repetitive but, I like what I like. It’s easier for me to plan ahead if I have similar things in rotation so I know exactly how many calories are coming in and how I’ll feel after I eat. I just need to make sure I don’t get sick of any of them.

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Today’s Workout: Replacements and New Meals

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My goal for the desk peddler now is to keep above 40 minutes if there’s time for me to do so. My stamina seems pretty good so the plan is to start adding the treadmill at the end of the day.

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Yesterday, I tried to replicate the grilled chicken salad I love to get from this little store by my job. It’s really good but over the years it’s gone from $5.99 to $7.99 to now over $10 and the portion got smaller. So, I got some precooked chicken breast from Butcher Box and put together the salad at home and it was perfect. Exactly like the one from the store. Again, I would love to support small businesses but I just can’t afford to splurge like that on a salad.

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While I had more leftovers for lunch, I made this sandwich for dinner. It’s roast beef, red onion, romaine lettuce, a slice of tomato, and avocado on some take and bake garlic bread. Holy shit, this was AMAZING, and about 350 calories! I need to practice building a sandwich that doesn’t fall over and find a way to put this together in a way that I can pack for lunch and it won’t end up soggy. I didn’t have any chips as a side since the garlic butter on the bread was pretty salty (and you know me, I have a salt problem) but this was super filling and a way for me to incorporate avocado without getting put off by the texture and the fact it just tastes like grass to me. Next time, I may add some lemon or red wine vinegar and see how that tastes.

Once I get my new bread maker set up and make some bagels, I’ll make the sandwich with that, too. This is absolutely going to be a repeat in my meal rotation.

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Today’s Workout: Percentages

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More desk peddler today but when I got on the scale this morning, I noticed that my body fat percentage is down. When I started keeping notice of it months ago, it was around 43% and now it’s about 33%. While my actual weight may be stuck, I think its awesome. It shows me that I’m not just spinning my wheels here and progress is being made.

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This looks like a mess but this was my lunch for today. Dinner was the same ole chicken and bok choy so, I skipped the picture this time. I have been trying to get more fish into my diet since I keep forgetting to take my stupid omega-3 supplements so I put in a can of tuna (in water to save calories even thought I really like the tuna in oil). I used red wine vinegar and olive oil as dressing and Nufield’s Garlic Croutons are a suitable replacement for the discontinued Garlic Parmesan Croutons from Trader Joe’s (Omg, bring those back!).

I don’t view salads as ‘diet food.’ I legitimately enjoy them and sometimes even have cravings for them. So, if you see me posting them, it’s not because I think a salad will be more beneficial to my weight loss than something else, it’s because I like them. Besides, I’m trying to avoid the ‘good food, bad food’ mentality with my regular meals and save the ‘bad food’ thoughts for when I’m treating myself to take out or something. 

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I think I fixed it?

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Yeah, I ended up not going to work because I was kept up all night with gas pain. I went to the store and got some OTC meds and they worked wonders. I still spent the day burping and groggy because I got no sleep but, as of now, I feel much better.

Since I was home, I made something more detailed for dinner. Back when I made the whole chicken, I ended up with WAAAAYY more potatoes than meat. I had two packs of bone in chicken thighs from Butcher Box and since I’ve got a delivery from them coming soon, I wanted to use up more stuff to make room. This was really simple: salt, pepper, sage, thyme, and black garlic. Cook in oven until done. I don’t usually use red onions for this but I have red onions and I’m not wasting them.

My stomach feel so much better once I took the meds and the food sat just fine. I didn’t workout because I didn’t wanna risk jostling my stomach around but I’m not that broken up about it. I’ve been doing well and one day off won’t kill me.

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Today’s Workout: I did something wrong

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I did my workout early in the day at my desk and had my usual lunch:

But something must have gone wrong because I ended the day with horrible cramping and gas. I was burping so much but I have the feeling this is gonna derail me again. I really hope not but part of me is certain this will take at least one day outta my training.

Mostly, I’m scared this isn’t gas and I have another perforated ulcer. I haven’t been doing anything to cause one of those but, it’s still a fear in the back of my head.

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Today’s Workout: Baking through the cold snap

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I wanted to get in my cardio before I got home (even though I’ll likely get in some squats and such later) and managed to get in 40 minutes! My thighs are burning even though it’s the peddler. I go faster since there’s less resistance.

I tried something a little different with lunch today and instead of my usual seasonings, I used half of the seasoning packet from the tonkatsu ramen and, it wasn’t as good. I do want to try other flavors but it’s looking like plain noodles with cumin, red pepper, and paprika are the way to go.

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Over the weekend, we had a frigid day where I figured if I’m gonna get slammed with a terrible heating bill, I might as well get a good meal out of it. I brined the chicken and slow cooked it with potatoes, onions, and garlic cloves. Basically, this is gonna be my dinners until it runs out. Not that I mind. You can tell that if I like something, it’ll repeat in my meal rotation.

To save some money, I’m gonna try and grow some of my own veggies this year. I have some containers and plenty of seeds. I figure I’ll try lettuce, tomatoes, and various other salad elements since me and the kid are salad people. I’m also saving up for a bread maker. I’m just gonna have to find the time to make more things myself. With prices these days, convenience is too expensive.

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Lenni Reviews: “Triceratops and Bottoms” by Lola Faust

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I’ve seen these types of books around and since there was no way in the hell of any religion I was going to pay money to indulge my morbid curiosity, I grabbed this (and a few others) that were offered for free.

Now, most of my reviews are fairly short; a quick blurb and my equally quick thoughts as not to spoil the experience (in most cases). If someone is interested and doesn’t want an essay on the book/comic/manga etc., I like to think my reviews will be something short to see if they’d be interested.

But we’re gonna take some time for dinosaur fucking so buckle up. This is a thing.

Our protagonist, Erin – introduced by her firm, perky nipples – lives in the year 2122 where nanobots do most of the work keeping her in a luxurious lifestyle. But all that modern tech has made life boring, so Erin has time to indulge her most wild fantasies. Feeling as if she’s experienced everything, both legal and not so much, Erin takes advantage of a new invention: a time machine.

I’m only 9% in now, by the way. Make note: my copy had some formatting issues. If anyone else cares to admit they read this, feel free to let me know if your copy was the same. No judgment here. Formatting is a bitch and has no bearing on the rating I give.

When Erin stated she felt “like a nerdy girl at her convention” for asking a logical question at the unveiling of the time machine, I took a strong sip of my IPA and wondered if I should branch off into doing drunk reviews on YouTube of books like this. But then I remember I’m in my 40’s and nobody needs to see my old ass face so, text is what you get.

I’m also not sure my liver could take it.

Anyhoo, despite the obvious (and much nerdier) pitfalls of time travel, Erin and her pert nipples are excited to go to the Jurassic era.

Could I have summed this up in a few sentences like my other reviews? Yes. Would it be as amusing? Probably not.

Now, again, I am not going to go in hard on format, typos, or grammar but there are certainly places where either I or Grammarly would have made better choices. I’m also gonna have to give some latitude to the dinos instantly understanding. Telepathy or some sort of other connection is a trope in these I’ve heard. This is my first dino porn so, forgive me if I get that wrong.

I freely admit this is not my thing and I either cringed or gagged at the smut scenes. This entire book is Erin seducing various species of dinosaurs. I have run multiple 5ks and done 10k training and it was more work and less enjoyable reading this book. Every so often I wonder what readers will think about the few smutty stories I’ve written, especially since most of my work isn’t erotica but this has taught me there’s an audience for ANYTHING. I don’t think I’ll be reading other books in this genre since, not to be crass but my brain hurts and I’ve never been drier. Serena’s Plight made me less uncomfortable. 1 out of 5.

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