weight loss medication

atthequillsmercy

Workout Dump: Season One Complete!

Now, you may be saying: “Lenni, you already finished season 1 years ago!” And you are correct! These workouts were finishing all the season one Radio Abel clips. With some 5k trainer thrown in there. After NYCC, I kept up with some very easy walking workouts and I think it actually helped me recover faster! Moving more in general is good and the scale is inching in the right direction again. I’m also doing my crunches and upped the number of wall pushups. Kinda like my writing, bit by bit progress is being made.

I got some boneless chicken thighs on sale and made a whole batch of buttermilk fried chicken for me and my kid to eat during the week. For the first time, I had it over a bed of Napa cabbage and onion with lemon juice, olive oil, and lemon pepper on it. It was actually quite refreshing! I scored more of that amazing focaccia bread from the farmer’s market for sandwiches (yes, that is a book bento box), and I’m eating more types of vegetables. Sometimes, I have the energy to stand there and chop peppers, sometimes it’s lightly sauced steamed in the microwave vegetables. Lately, my calories have been over 1000 a day but I am totally ok with that if I’m active and it’s not junk food. I’m back on the Saxenda on a low dose. I don’t feel overfull and I think my nails are growing back attached. I’m super excited about that.

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Workout Dump: It’s that time of year again

NYCC is fast approaching and that means a TON of walking. I’ve scaled back to walking and desk peddler workouts in anticipation of that. NYCC is the only time of year where I get more than 10k steps a day multiple days in a row. I’m already tired I can feel it.

My food hasn’t changed up much, but I’m enjoying varying my protein and vegetables. This is a boring entry… Really, nothing of note to report. Stay safe out there, I guess? See ya’ll after the con!

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Workout Dump: Longer Workouts and Adjustments

I finished the pirate missions and now I’m working through this spirit quest like one? It’s really interesting! I can’t always run but then I walk; trying to get in at least 40 minutes when there’s space in my schedule. Overtime hours are available again and instead of sleeping in longer, I get up and work out before I go in. I even managed to destroy the seam on another pair of running pants. Odd that I take that as a win… But I’ve also noticed more loose skin on my thighs even if the scale hasn’t moved as much as I’d like.

After the big clean out for the new fridge, I have been trying to use up more of the stuff I had in the freezer. It may be odd to be thinking “Gosh, I gotta eat all this bacon” because it’s on auto ship with my Butcher Box order (free bacon for life, baby) but I kept not eating it since it’s unhealthy. Then it just built up. BLT salads are a great way for me to get protein with my salads while taking a break from tuna. With grocery prices the way they are, I only buy things on sale and the bacon I have in the house is better for my wallet than going out to buy full-price tuna. And since I’m militant about calorie counting, I still log everything to make sure I’m in a calorie deficit, drink plenty of water, and try to keep averaging 7k steps a day. And honestly, even the piddly 20 wall pushups, 100 crunches, and 100 squats are making a difference. I have noticed I am stronger. I don’t get winded as quickly, I can pick up heavier things, and stuff I normally could lift, I can hold longer. This is not to say that moving large things like a mini fridge doesn’t result in muscle pain (I keep my Saxenda in a small fridge in my room, and I got a new one that has a self-defrost) but I did it. I did it all by myself. I do need to chill on the carbs more, though. And up my protein. I’m slowly building muscle and I want to keep that train rolling.

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Workout Dump: Yo Ho!

While the steps are still kinda off in Zombies Run, I’m liking these side missions. Unlike most of the other missions, the running isn’t incorporated into the story as much. In the others, a character will work telling you to run into the script. Not a bad thing, just something I noticed. I enjoy running with these stories regardless.

I’ve been playing around with some different meals these days. Misfits Market had mini sardines and those were a nice change from tuna. There was a mishap with an order I placed with Weee (the mishap being me ordering, getting an email my order was cancelled, redoing the order, then getting BOTH orders), I have an overabundance of broccoli. I’ve been putting it in any applicable meal. The bacon situation is similar: I get free bacon with every Butcher Box order, and I’ve been adding it to more meals. One of those is clearly healthier than the other, but hey, protein is protein, and I don’t wanna waste anything and having tuna all the time gets boring! And bacon is delicious.

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Workout Dump: World Traveler and A Break

It’s been a hot minute since I posted about workouts, so here’s a snippet of what I’ve been doing. I finished all the Nellie Bly missions and started the pirate one. The step counter is working better, but it’s not exact. I rely on my watch or my ring to actually get my pace. These pics are pretty close, though. I’ll take it. I’ve been fairly active outside of this, too. Daily crunches and squats, and trying to remember doing some wall pushups. I’m still stuck around 209, but I NEED to give the Saxenda a break. I’m not a medical professional, but since the Saxenda fucks with my depression SO badly at times, I need to be off it for a while. I shouldn’t be waking up in the morning and immediately thinking, “I want to die.” My writing is suffering because aside from that thought, my brain is muffled and useless. Writing is the only way I’ve been able to make any money on the side, and I can’t have this medication making me creatively dead. I may gain some weight back, but I’m fine with that. I can restart it when I feel better. It’s not worth being skinny (which isn’t my goal anyway) if I can’t function! Even after less than a week off it, I already feel more balanced. I have noticed I’m hungrier, but even if I hit 1,000 calories a day, I feel overfull. I’ll keep checking in and talk to my doctors about this.

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Workout Dump: Doodles

I normally don’t post the little notes I get from Zombies Run but this one from Sam is just too damn adorable! I really like these training missions! It’s so nostalgic with all the people I heard from way back in season one of the app coming back. And you’ll see I did one mission twice and that’s because I didn’t notice that it hadn’t been marked complete the first time. I just did it again. No biggie. Steps are steps.

I’m making good progress on cleaning out the freezer, which is why I made a random Cornish game hen in the middle of the summer. I don’t want to put the oven on but I also don’t want to waste food. I’m already tossing out a lot of random stuff I’ve unearthed and whenever I do, I hear my mother’s voice telling me that wasting food is a sin. I assuage my guilt by promising not to overbuy things in the future.

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Workout and Food Dump: I miss some things

I’ve been pretty active and trying to do more strength training regularly. I remember my morning and evening squats more often and even grabbed the kettlebell here and there. The only real change I’ve seen is better endurance for my runs and a slight drop in my body fat percentage (37.4 to a flat 37). By weight is still stuck but hey, less body fat is a good thing!

With the longer runs, I try to have dinner cooking while I’m running, but that doesn’t always work. That salmon turned out dry as fuck. Edible but not enjoyable. The rice and beans turned out good, though. That could sit in the rice cooker during a workout without getting ruined. Those pickled onions aren’t homemade this time; I got them from the farmer’s market. They’re pretty good, but there’s just something about making it yourself. I’m probably doing it wrong, too. That’s usually how I end up with unique things at home.

I’m happy-ish with my progress but I miss some of my old workouts. I used to do Zumba and it was fun! But so’s running. I dunno, I’ll think of something.

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Workout Dump and Another Great Find

Yeah, I still don’t know what is up with the Zombies Run app. It’s still not counting my steps. It will start to count the steps then not do it unless I’m legit shaking the phone. I think I’m gonna give up on it and just leave it on a steady run and get my stats in other ways. It’s frustrating because it used to work just fine and I really like their 5k trainer. And it’s not my phone’s accelerometer because the apps I use to convert my steps to points are counting them just fine. 

I’m supposed to be getting more protein in my diet as well as cleaning out the fridge, so I’ve been eating more fish and making sure protein is in every meal. I’ve also discovered a new fantastic sauce from Trader Joe’s: Lemon Pesto Sauce. I bought it without knowing what I’d do with it (I really need to stop doing that) and ended up making that last pasta dish with it. I cooked an entire bag of pasta, added the pesto and pasta water in while I cooked the broccoli (in the same pot because nobody helps me with dishes), broke apart some breaded chicken strips, and mixed that all together. It was so, SO good. It probably didn’t even really need the Parmesan cheese on it, but it was still fantastic. I’m probably gonna have to stock up on it so I still have some when they inevitably discontinue it.

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“Today’s” Workout: There’s clearly a problem

I honestly couldn’t tell you what the hell is going on with my Zombies Run app but I have made so many stride length adjustments since the last couple updates to the app and it just will not count my steps unless I’m shaking the phone like a damn maracca. I have my watch as a backup which shows the real step count, pace, and distance but the stats in ZR used to matter to me in terms of seeing my improvements or lack thereof. Now it’s all gone to shit. The 5k trainer within the app is great. I find it really encouraging. The intervals are different from Just Run which gives me some variety to make sure my body doesn’t get used to things and has a challenge. Every other app is tracking my steps just fine but I don’t know what is up with Zombies Run and my lazy googling hasn’t uncovered any other people having this issue. I’m trying for a 90 day workout challenge to try and burn off these last few pounds before NYCC and while this isn’t helping, it’s not hindering me either. I’m moving and that’s what counts. Any other day I’m not running, I’m on the desk bike or desk peddler.

My food has been interesting since I’ve been having my fingernails detach again. I’m doubling up on my multivitamins and switching some other things up. That salad is basically what I had in that croissant sandwich but in a salad without the bread. Those wasabi almonds are fantastic while I’m feeling peckish and I’ve been making progress on cleaning out the deep freezer/fridge by making things like that huge ass lamb leg. I baked it with potatoes and vegetables, then portioned it out for the week. I hate having to use the oven in the summer but, this stuff needs to be cooked and eaten. It’s all part of the big clean-out I’m doing of the whole house. If I can’t eat it, wear it, use it, or sell it, it’s going in the trash. Hopefully, I’ll sell enough stuff that I can give the sanitation workers a HUGE tip this year. They fucking deserve it considering what I’ve put them through.

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Today’s Workout: An attempt was made

I’m so frustrated with how slow things are going that I decided to hop on the C210K trainer and the first workout was 53 minutes. I hadda stop at the third interval. I just couldn’t do it. I walked the rest. All of these workouts are too long for a weekday, so weekend warrior it is. I can either walk or bike during the week. Also, the stride length got reset with the Zombies Run app updated. I am so glad my watch keeps track of things as well. My in-app stats will be off but I’ll just have to live with that.

The farmer’s market by my job is back in business and I had to grab some of the delicious broccoli rabe ravioli and marinara sauce. I love farmer’s market season. They have amazing stuff. Dinner was healthy despite me wanting a burger. Probably craving protein after that long workout but I’m trying to get more veggies in and I was bored with romaine. Not a bad day, all things considered. I just have to regain my stamina for these longer runs.

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