under desk bike

atthequillsmercy

Workout and Food Catch Up.

I’m still sticking with the desk peddler these days because I can do other things while doing it and I’m trying to get my thigh muscles to grow. I have lost a few more pounds (back down to 210) and that means lose skin in places. Since I am broke and will likely never get skin surgically removed, I’ll have to fill in the gaps with muscles.

That pasta sauce is made with diced up summer squash and zucchini because I get so damn many of them in my CSA box, it’s impossible for me to eat in my usual way, which is the other picture. That’s sliced and steamed with some asparagus risotto that I will not even pretend I made myself. It’s frozen from Trader Joe’s and reheated in my Itaki box. Steaming to reheat things is so much better than the microwave. I really like it and I’m tempted to get the Itaki pot to reheat things like the pasta. Also, I made a HUGE pot of that sauce and I’m so glad it turned out good. I froze the rest to use later but I’m gonna have to come up with another way to use these veggies up if I keep getting so many of them every week. There’s only so much pasta I can eat. 

Yes, I already thought of making bread. And chips. I’ll have to see about that because I am trying not to use the oven during the summer.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Filling in the Blanks

wp-1653073152998

There are so many reviews I have to type up and books I need to read that I sat back and worked on both while I was pedaling today. And this time, I felt my heart rate go up and I was breathing faster so nothing like my previous workouts for this week. I was WORKING. My muscles are burning!

I went extra hard since I had noodles with my lunch today and that’s a lot of extra calories (and salt). I know it’s not the healthiest way to see things; balancing out a non-healthy food with a workout but in terms of sheer calories in versus calories out, this is better.

Later I’ll still be doing my squats and maybe some weights. Absolutely going to have a light dinner after work since I had the ramen. With the Saxenda, there just isn’t room for much after such a big lunch. And I plan to treat myself to an end of the week beer because something about the last 5 days has been exhausting and I deserve a treat.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Biking While Reading

wp-1652382892592

All those manga and graphic novels I ordered are coming in and I’m so excited for a lot of these titles. I had to pick some out to read before they make it to the shelves (reviews will be coming) and it’s easy to just pedal while I read. The time just flew by and since it’s always so cold in the office, I got my heartrate up high enough that I was actually hot. 

Friday I’ll probably to a long weights session since I haven’t done enough of those this week. I really wanna tone up my abs and arms before I start to consider heavier lifting. I heaviest weights I own are 10 pounds and I’d like to get stronger but I’m not willing to spend the money on heavier stuff until I hit my first weight goal. 

I have been thinking of getting back into running soon as an extra workout three days a week. I honestly just miss doing it and I wanna know what happens next in Zombies Run. I’m one of those nerds who’s invested in the story.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Numbers

I went in for my annual and they did my regular blood test. I clearly got too complacent in always getting great numbers because this time was not good. My bad cholesterol went from 155 to 177. Holy shit. I guess I treated myself a bit too many times here…

wp-1651686026520

wp-1651706489679

Now, my plan is to do extra workouts daily. I have the desk bike at work and I grabbed my kettle bell today. I know I do have a weight loss goal for the scale but it’s more important for me to get healthy and have a better quality of life as I age. I may not be able to run like I did in my 20’s but I want to be able to walk when I’m in my 60’s.

One of my little tricks is to do 50 squats whenever I brush my teeth and considering I’m gonna try extending my desk peddler time to at least 40 minutes, my legs are gonna be burning. My arm muscles are already trembling from just 10 minutes of kettle bell so I am CLEARLY not in as good a shape as I could be. I mean, I have good endurance that I can walk for long distances and the bag I carry daily has to be about 20 pounds and I don’t struggle much to lift it. I have a lot of work to do.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: It feels like a Monday…

wp-1651015745689

I was off the entire day. Either I didn’t get enough sleep or the coffee didn’t do it’s job; I have no idea. It was a total chore to get this workout done and my day topped off with the key I wear around my neck flipping up into my face, around my glasses, and right onto my frikkin eyeball.

wp-1651019598573.

It didn’t hurt but still left this red dot. After it happened, I just stood there for a second and thought:

giphy-downsized

(Image Source)

I’m just gonna go to bed early and hope tomorrow is better. But not likely looking at my schedule.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: ARC Reading

wp-1650910081742

I was going to spend this workout doing a bunch of blog posts but I ended up checking my ARC graphic novels and I had a handful that were all set to expire today. I put the desk peddler in a comfy spot and read them all and wrote up reviews. If I’m gonna binge read some manga, I might as well burn some calories while I do it.

It’s easier to read while on a stationary bike than write. I can just let my legs go while I enjoy the books and time passes so fast! I didn’t even notice I’d hit 40 minutes until I randomly checked my watch.

Even though the peddler has a little screen, I’ve never used it to calculate distance for these workouts. I’m so used to just grabbing the thing and starting a workout before I can talk myself out of it. I’m curious to see what those numbers would be.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: And I went to the store…

wp-1650468077653

In addition to a quick walk to the grocery store on my lunch break (they had canned tuna on sale and me and the kiddo eat a lot of salads with tuna so I try to get it cheap), I did the under desk bike again while I worked my way through some ordering. My director asked me if I could buy a bunch of graphic novels for my collection and hoooooooo boy, do I have an order to put in. If you give me the chance to boost my collection, I’ll gladly take it!

To self promote; I had a random thought about my First Brood Series and went to see how much I had completed of book 4. I’m still working on Dahlia 3 but I think I’ll sneak and update my brain on Emma’s book, too. I put it aside to work on shorter stories but I’m in the mood to work on it. We’ll see what comes of it.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Playing Catch-up

wp-1650296774571

I’ve been trying to catch up on my book reviews so I can tell I wasn’t as focused on the workout. That’s ok because I’m trying to get through my intense backlog of books. I’m aiming to at least do two posts a day aside from the workout posts.

In food news, I FINALLY got the homemade chips right!

wp-1650207572773

I had bought some ground wagyu awhile back and since I’m doing my best to eat what’s in the house and not order out, I made smashed wagyu burgers and chips on the side. I got the pretzel bun from here. That’s truffle salt on the top.

Now, the mistake I was making with the chips was not letting them air dry after soaking them. I would just toss them in the oil, resulting in some soggy ass chips and some crispy ones. This time I let them air out for 30 minutes sandwiched in paper towels and they came out perfect. I even got the seasoning right so I don’t feel like I’m going to get sodium poisoning. I had some BBQ seasoning in my cabinet and paired with a little season salt, I have a nice crispy snack!

With the Saxenda, this was a HUGE meal that I ended up dividing in half but it was still amazing. If I ever get a deal on wagyu again, I’d repeat this meal.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Cardio and Review/Writing Updates

wp-1650042583403

I have a bunch of graphic novels I need to get though to review so, while I was reading I used my under peddler. I’m still behind on reviews but I’ve been prioritizing my writing. But more reviews will be coming!

The third part to Dahlia is being worked on but I keep splitting it with the other WIPs I have. Maybe this weekend, I can knuckle down and finish it but I’m still not sure what I want to do with the ultimate conclusion. I want it to be a happy ending but it needs to be a happy ending that makes sense. I don’t want it to end up feeling forced or trite just because I want my characters to be happy. That’s what’s kicking around in my head, anyway so I have no timetable for a conclusion at this point.

Follow me on BlogLovin.

atthequillsmercy

Today’s Workout: Brain Fog

wp-1649773563607

I haven’t been able to focus on much of anything today. It’s one of those days where I won’t realize I’ve been staring into space for minutes at a time rather than being productive. Hell, I’ve started this blog post three times.

I am so glad I have leftover fried rice because I don’t want to involve fire and knives trying to cook when I’m so sleepy. I didn’t want to skip a day working out so, I made sure to power through and burn those calories. Maybe I’ll get to writing or something today if I get my brain to put the words together.

Follow me on BlogLovin.