food porn

atthequillsmercy

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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atthequillsmercy

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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atthequillsmercy

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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atthequillsmercy

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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atthequillsmercy

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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atthequillsmercy

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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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Splitting

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I split my workout in two for today. I did the first one at work with my peddler and the second one at home on the big desk bike. the bike at home has the resistance turned way up so, it’s much harder than the little peddler. I actually break a sweat and I’m still able to write since I have the desk.

Not that my brain will let me write. Post COVID brain fog makes writing feel like I am trying to pull the words out of my head kicking and screaming. It really sucks because the ideas are there, the will is there, but I just can’t focus.

I had my usual lunch today but I didn’t get up in time to properly wash the bok choy so, snow peas filled in. It takes less time to cook than broccoli but I can add it sooner than bok choy; that gets way too soft. I like my veggies to still have some crunch, not be soggy. It was super filling so I didn’t eat much for dinner. Just some left overs.

All in all, this was a good day. I can’t say I’ll always be able to get in almost an hour of cardio like this but, I’ll do my best.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Food Included

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I know it’s short but I felt it. Lots of squats and leg lifts with this home workout app. Again, keeping it short for now keeps me in control and keeps me from hurting myself or making myself sick. I did get in more steps over the course of the day and I’m goin to keep trying to increase those numbers.

As for my food, I had chicken and rice for lunch and a salad for dinner. Putting cheese on the salad probably made it less healthy than it could have been but it’s tasty so deal with it. As for lunch, yes those are giant chunks of garlic. I did not feel like doing a lot of chopping. I just sliced them in half and tossed them in with the chicken with some olive oil and a pat of butter. I think it turned out great because I am totally okay with a bite of food with a hunk of garlic in it. The only “bad” food was the rice; Uncle Ben’s instant. Those have a ton of salt and I already used salt and pepper on the chicken. It tasted good but ruined my sodium goal for the day. Eh, they can’t all be winners.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Crashing

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For some reason, Zombies Run kept crashing on me during my workout. After the third time, I just gave up and let Google Fit handle it. When I started, my knee was aching but after my warmup I was able to keep a relaxed pace for the rest of the run. The time passed pretty quickly, considering I didn’t have the mission to listen to. I’ll try again later in the week. Maybe they’ll roll out an update.

 Since I had the day off, I decided on beef ribs for lunch. I know people usually make complicated meals with these but, I literally just cook them on my grill pan with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. I don’t eat them often since they’re expensive but I felt like I needed a treat.

The second meal was complicated. Of course the weather randomly decides to get super warm when I need to use the oven for hours… I haven’t made spaghetti and meatballs in a long time and I’ve been meaning to use up the ground beef and pork I have. The portion in that bowl was WAY too much for me and I’m gonna end up finishing it off for lunch tomorrow and I have so much sauce left that dinner is gonna be easy for the rest of the week. I will have to add something green to this. I have some baby broccoli floating around that I bet would go great with this.

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atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: The bike for a bit

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I just didn’t have time for the treadmill since I worked late so, the desk peddler was my cardio for the day. I biked while I was catching up on some reviews (which I will be posting over the next few days).

I also made some sable fish and brought the leftovers for lunch at work.

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I know I shouldn’t be eating too much rice but the jasmine rice was the perfect companion to the baked baby broccoli. And this type of fish does have a bunch of omega 3’s to help with my bad cholesterol. I just seasoned it with some garlic powder and thyme. I got the baby broccoli from Misfits Market at a decent price and the meal was good enough for me to make it again. I have a few more filets of sable fish left from Butcher Box.

Next week, I’ll probably get back on the treadmill and I’m trying to save up for some adjustable weights to use. The kettlebell I have is only 8 pounds and I would like to lift a little heavier next year. I doubt you can get ripped with only an 8 pound weight.

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