June 2, 2023June 5, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Uhoh…

I took a nice long walk to the store today. It was gorgeous out, I needed to pick up a few things from the store, so I left the car at home and hoofed it. Completely worth it and it felt so good to get out of the house. I can already tell my skin is finally losing that pasty ‘librarian who is always indoors’ tone.

The problem? I ended up needing to put on the air conditioner. All I can think of whenever I turn that thing on for the first time in the year is how big my electric bill will be (have mercy on me and check out my books). As the weather heats up, I know taking a walk outside won’t be as comfortable as it is now (unless I go very early in the morning). The treadmill and desk bike are gathering dust so, I’ll switch to those when it gets really hot.

One of the things I grabbed at the store is more of that pre-prepped chicken from Trader Joes for my salads. Yes, that is a lot of cheese. No, I don’t care what you think. If in the end I’m still around 1000 calories (remember, I’m on Saxenda so, my calories are kept lower than a normal diet) and I’ve had some decent activity during my day, Imma eat some damn cheese.

This was my main meal for the day, other than snacking. I’m gonna try and be more diligent on peal prep on my non-work days. Work days, I’m super prepared; I can fill in my food diary first thing in the morning because I already know what the rest of the day will be. When I’m off, it’s chaos. We’ll see how that goes in the future.

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June 1, 2023June 5, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Biking some more

I hate to admit it – no, I really do – but lower impact workouts like walking and the stationary bike are actually helping the weight come off faster than when I was running. What sucks is I like running. I feel good doing it but, I can’t deny the results. I’m down to 202.4 and have been losing little by little every week.

This means I’m going to stick with it and push myself harder with body weight workouts. I also need to dig out the kettlebell again. I bet with a few more little tweaks, I’ll really start seeing some changes.

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May 23, 2023May 24, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Not quite…

I decided to take a lunch walk today and it’s not quite the weather to go outside without a sweater. Not that I want it to be super hot; I loathe the heat. By the time I was done, I’d warmed up pretty good and I managed to score some veggies on sale.

For lunch I gave these garlic noodles a try. They were not good. They were overly sweet yet somehow tasteless at the same time. It’s a shame but I ended up tossing it without finishing it all.

For dinner, I was craving a chicken Caesar salad. I used the grilled lemon pepper chicken from Trader Joe’s that comes already cooked and it was so good. Much better than the noodles. Combined, it was a high salt day, but I am a very hydrated person so I didn’t bloat too much. I was even able to get the cheese for this on sale! Hey, I’m broke so, I’ll take whatever savings I can get.

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May 11, 2023May 15, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Time Change

They changed the hours so I come in an hour later than usual and I already don’t like it. I was going to do the desk peddler during a webinar but the new hours mean I missed the webinar. Yet another reason why they should have just left well enough alone.

For lunch I made that sandwich again but this time I didn’t go as heavy on the onion and added sliced avocado. I also mixed the meats; roast beef and turkey. It was interesting. I would probably make that again. Another drawback of the new hours is these two meals are too close together and I felt overfull. I need to try and eat either before I leave for work or on the way to work to avoid that. Also, I am almost out of those noodles and I have a healthier alternative as a replacement. Shaving a few calories off of a big meal like that couldn’t hurt.

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May 10, 2023May 11, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Fetch Quest

Since my child just cannot drink water from a filtered pitcher, I hadda go get them some seltzer on my lunch break. It’s interesting that it only counted ten minutes of walking time despite it being a 20 minute walk but I’m sure it’s based on heart rate or something.

Since I was on that mission, I wouldn’t have time for cooking lunch so, I packed a roast beef sandwich. I went a little heavy on the red onion but it was really good. I put some lemon pepper Mrs. Dash in there to make things more interesting. For dinner, I finished off that baked ziti I’d bought yesterday. Felt like a carb heavy day but I hit over 4k steps. Tomorrow, I’ll go for more cardio and try to remember to do some bodyweight workouts.

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May 8, 2023May 10, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Ugh, I can’t believe I’m saying this…

I’m back to the desk peddler for a bit because, and it is fucking surreal for me to say this, my hip hurts. I don’t know exactly when I got old, but here we are. I’ll get back to running once I don’t flinch when I try to stand up.

Lunch I had the beef and broccoli with noodles and dinner was a salad that I will freely admit I used waaaaaayyy too much pepper.

Anyway, it was a decent day despite being stressed out over an impending event that I can’t post about. I’m fine; it’s just funny that people think my job is quiet and easy. Clearly, they don’t realize how wild working with the public can be.

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April 26, 2023April 27, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Poor Brunswick…

Well, this mission was kind of a downer. I won’t spoil it but yeah, was sad. Either way, I still managed to run the full 10 minute intervals without taking any extra breaks. I kept reminding myself that during lockdown, I was doing c210k and did 20 minute intervals so 10 shouldn’t be an issue and I shouldn’t give up. I’m not sure if I’ll do the 10k training again because the workouts are really fucking long as the you go through the plan and that was easy to do during lockdown because if I had a webinar or something, I could throw on my headphones and be on the treadmill at the same time. Between single mom things and my side hustle things, I don’t have time for workouts that are an hour or more. Maybe if more of my books are selling and my adsense goes up but for now, that’s not in the cards.

For lunch I did the beef and steamed veggies again. I think after I’m out of the ramen noodles, I won’t buy anymore to cut down on some carbs.

Dinner had to be lighter to balance out lunch. I still have some lamb left but I’ll eat that another day. That’s romaine, scallions, and avocado with tuna. I finally remembered to plant the butts of the veggies to grow my own and try and save some money. Lettuce of various types, onions, and scallions are the most popular in my house and it would be amazing for my budget to have them on hand in the garden containers. I would like to try some cucumbers and tomatoes but, we’ll see what I have time for.

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April 25, 2023April 26, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: I still don’t like pushups

And I’m sure they dislike me as much. Either way, I know I’m gonna feel this tomorrow. I’m not at the point where I can get on the floor and do them but I still feel my muscles working when I to wall pushups. I also decided to throw in 50 squats and 50 crunches after this to work those muscles and make more progress toning up.

For lunch, I packed some of the leftovers from yesterday and learned a lesson: don’t put naan in the microwave. I didn’t want to break a tooth on it afterwards. I still have some lamb left so, you’ll probably see it in another meal soon. For dinner, I had some leftover fries from the weekend and just ate that. I wasn’t super hungry and didn’t wanna push it. Unfortunately, I didn’t take many steps so, I think it was a good idea to keep it light for the day. I’m still stuck around 203-204 but if I keep this up, I’m sure I’ll finally get under 200 soon.

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April 24, 2023April 25, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Food Drop

I did lower my speed a bit today since I was feeling sore but it was a good run. I stuck to the intervals and had decent posture. I’m a little annoyed that TLCGo no longer works for me and locked all the content but that’s ok. I started watching Breaking Bad instead.

Over the weekend, I made some pizza (really happy I got that bread machine) and I ate the last of that for lunch. Dinner was me trying to replicate a gyro platter and it turned out pretty good! I wasn’t able to cut the really thin strips but I think I nailed the taste. I didn’t get super home crafty and make the naan and my seeds aren’t any where near the point where I can eat veggies I grew myself but it was tasty and I have plenty of leftovers for tomorrow. Maybe I’ll pack a cute lunch again.

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April 21, 2023April 22, 2023 atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: I gave in…

Okay soooooo, I was doing really well today. I am aware that I don’t eat enough fruit and I had a bunch of grapes for lunch, I did my workout (that cramp in my calf is really fucking annoying…), I took a nice walk… Then dinner came around and I ordered a burger and fries. I’d been craving it all week and finally caved. And you know what? IT WAS DELICIOUS AND I REGRET NOTHING. I don’t eat like that all the time, I was super active this week, I made smart choices the entire time, and I wanted a damn treat that I didn’t have to cook.

This was my last run of the week and I like the Mon, Wed, Fri type schedule but I usually don’t workout on Friday’s at all. I get weekend brain and just wanna relax. But, if I wanna hit my goals, I need to do something everyday. Since my calves are all crampy, I need to do more stretching and upper body work while that sorts itself out. Over the next week, I am acutely aware of how much blogging, writing, and editing I have to do so, it’s very likely I’ll be switching to the bike for a couple days and continuing to incorporate more walking. I’m doing pretty good at moving around more in my day and don’t want to fall back on that.

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