This is the leftovers from the previous night’s dinner. It turned out pretty good; even on the second day. Once I got home, I wasn’t hungry at all so I just made myself some popcorn as a snack, then did my bodyweight workouts.
This was the desk peddler at work and the resistance is up to the highest setting so I really felt this in my thighs and I was breathing faster.
I did just the abs and stretching for today since I’m pretty sore from yesterday and I don’t want to overdo it. Good news is I’d jumped up to 211 and I’m back down to 209 so this is working so far! I have more to go but I bet I can make it if I stay on track.
I also have my new blood test results which are odd but that’s another entry for another day.
I did the desk peddler today as early as I could today but I didn’t have as much time as I would have hoped.
This was today’s lunch but for some reason when I try to take a picture of my dinner, the camera decides it’s not gonna bother to save it. You’re just gonna have to believe me that I made chicken thigh pieces with garlic and broccoli. You’ll probably see it tomorrow as my lunch since I made a big batch.
I did my two workout apps and the stretching and I’m feeling okay about how today turned out. I was able to curb my salt to a reasonable degree and I’m officially out of any bad snacks I could have. I did miss making coffee this morning and it’s presence was sorely missed. Tomorrow morning we will be reunited.
Also, I’m still writing and editing; as you can tell from my dramatics.
I felt pretty productive today; finishing off a bunch of books, returning them, clearing away space on my desk, and making sure I have a healthy lunch and prepped what I wanna make for dinner… And I was able to get my heart rate up enough to make me feel like some good calorie burn happened.
Now, I was talking about the electric lunchbox I use at work – where my co-workers get mad it’s not a buffet and don’t bring enough to share – and the steamed meals I make in them.
These are the raw ingredients before I started cooking. Those are small bits of sliced chicken in soy sauce with my usual spices: paprika, cumin and red pepper. I use plain noodles and break the block in half. One pack is over 400 calories, no way I’m eating the whole thing. The greens are bok choy, sliced garlic, white onion, and ginger. I end up having to cook in stages; the chicken first for 15 minutes, add the bok choy in the top section at the 15 minute mark, and the noodles in hot water at the 20 minute mark. At 25 minutes, it’s all done.
Sometimes (as in most of the time), I end up over packing the vegetables. I eat what’s cooked and let the rest steam a bit longer. I don’t like my veggies too soggy. I like the crunch. When I do broccoli, I leave the veggies in the entire time since that takes much longer to cook than the bok choy. The water I use to cook the noodles dilutes the soy sauce (I try to use low sodium but that’s not always on sale and I’m a cheap bitch) and the chili crunch is just delicious and fun.
This is a filling dinner that is so satisfying (even though the red pepper makes my nose run, which is gross but worth it). If I get one pack of chicken tenders from Trader Joe’s or Butcher Box, that makes two of these types of meals. I change up the vegetables (I already ranted about my issues with the broccoli from Misfits Market here) and those ramen packs are so cheap when they’re on discount and also last two meals. If I don’t have any noodles, I just add more veggies.
One of these days, I’ll post the version of this I make with lemon chicken and peppers (unless I did that already and fuck it, I’ll do it again) which I have had mixed results adding rice but for that, I just skip the carbs entirely. Rice is hit or miss for me with the electric lunch box. Or at least this kind of electric lunch box because I backed a different one on Kickstarter (yeah, not sponsored or an affiliate for anything I have linked here) that I’ll have to play around with when I get it to see what kinds of meals I can make or if it’s best for just reheating things. Either one would help me out since the microwave can kill food sometimes.
So… I went on a tangent about my food and the geeky products I own. If I put this meal into MyFitnessPal, it’s about 500 calories total; which is good for me since I don’t feel the need to snack at all hours after eating this. If I make this for lunch, I don’t even need dinner. That’s probably the Saxenda as a factor as well but a good workout and getting my steps in burns all this off no problem.
Uhm… I don’t have anything clever to say to end this. I’m tired and going to bed.
Today was a kinda chill day. I got up early to make lunch for the kid (who actually ate it? And actually did the dishes so I had anything to make lunch with? Clearly, an anomaly) and made myself a thermos full of coffee to make it through getting up really early without enough sleep.
I keep waking up in the middle of the night and it’s starting to piss me off…
Anyhooooooo, I learned a valuable lesson food wise not to buy any broccoli from Misfits Market ever again. Either I can’t get the full bunch clean enough to avoid visible bugs (I assume a certain amount of bug eating risk in general but I don’t SEE them normally and I can live in blissful ignorance) or I get the pre-cut florets that have hidden rotten parts in them and they don’t taste right. So, if I get it from them, I either have to make sure to use whatever I buy in one day and see random flies or grubs during my meal or use veggies that taste off even though they are fresh from delivery. Honestly, I’m better off getting broccoli from Trader Joe’s or basically any other place than Misfits. Sorry, Misfits Market, your other stuff is good but not this. I ended up throwing it all out.
On the upside, the other veggies and fruit I’ve bought from Misfits Market have been alright. They are very, VERY fresh and need to be used sooner rather than later. And if you’re wondering why I’m harping on the broccoli, I’ll have to take more pictures of the meals I make at work with the electric lunch box. There’s a method to my madness in usually choosing broccoli as opposed to bok choy; which has a very different result when steamed in the Itaki lunch box. (not sponsored… I WISH I was sponsored!) I guess I should take pictures of how I prep then cook various meals in this thing? Eh, if I remember. I tend to have these types of meals on days where I have time to properly cook and eat them during my hour break, be it lunch on my day shifts or dinner on my night shifts. I have to strategically plan my break to make sure I have an outlet.
If I remember tomorrow, I’ll take photos of my prep before I take the ingredients to work. Also, I have a reputation at work now. Whenever someone smells something delicious at a meal time, someone pokes their head into the break room and says “Oh, it’s her again, not bringing enough for the rest of us.” I’m lucky to have coworkers who aren’t put off by my cooking.
But for now, I’m tired and sore and want to go to sleep.
This weekend was Flame Con and even though I usually don’t cook after running around all day in the city, Saturday I had some peppers I didn’t want to go bad so I made sure to cook something fairly simple.
And of course, I had an amazing time at Flame Con. Everyone at this con is just super nice and polite, accepting and it’s just the most positive vibes I’ve felt in a public setting in a long time. I bought too many books (as is my usual habit) and even had some of them signed!
I’ll be reviewing them for the blog when I get around to them. I have a pile I’m already working through.
After walking around so much all day, I didn’t do any cardio for my workouts. I decided on Sunday to do my body weight apps and some stretching. I did more stretching than just the app because all that walking made me very sore.
This week, I hope to get back to Zombies Run. I decided to try out their 5k training program rather than C25K because I’m very curious about it. And it’s cooled off, so I don’t mind hitting the treadmill. We’ll see how I can handle a faster running pace after taking a break for so long.
I did the desk bike after work while reading to catch up on reviews. It was fine, I got my heartrate up and I have been doing the body weight workouts despite not posting them here but I really miss Zombies Run. Next week, I’m going to do their 5k training program since I’ve never used the chases function before. I was always I’d mess it up and lose all my items because I wouldn’t be able to keep up. I’ve done 5k’s before so it’s just a matter of getting back into the groove.
Another thing about the chases is I don’t run very fast to begin with. I stick to around 3.5 mph, 4 if I’m feeling spicy. But I think for the chases, you have to already be at 4 in order for them to work. If I suck at it, I just won’t do it again.
This weekend I have Flame Con so, I won’t be working out at all. I’ll be walking around enough and I’m always sore after a convention.
Since I’m working on more writing, I waited until I got home to workout and used my desk bike. This uses an entirely different set of muscles than sitting in my office chair with the peddler. I actually sweat using the bike. But since the peddler is at work, it’s for the best not to sweat too much using that.
I forgot to do the bodyweight workouts because I had a nice long talk with my kid about internet safety and scams. Modern parenting, man… But my almost unhealthy amount of MLM and other scam content that I watch gave me the chance to educate my child who hopefully will let their friends know what to avoid. I’ll have to make up for missing those tomorrow with some extra kettlebell.
Getting back to the bike is me working up to getting back to running. I would like to start C25K up again before the end of the month then once that’s done, maybe to the 5k training within the Zombies Run app. Those are totally different beasts. The Zombies Run version makes sure you up your speed.
Maybe I’ll just do that one instead of C25K. We’ll see how it works out.
I really should have continued to get up early enough to have breakfast. I’ve been slacking on that. Then again, this was the week of my period and I don’t sleep well. It takes a full dose of my anti-anxiety meds to even get to sleep and I don’t stay asleep. Therefore, I have to drag myself out of bed in the morning. I stay tired all day; not even Death Wish Coffee helps. I just muddle through until my hormones rebalance and I feel normal again. Which will be in a couple of days!
Tomorrow, I’ll get back to the bodyweight and kettlebell apps. I’m still stuck at 208 and I don’t want to lose my muscle definition. I can’t skip those days anymore. And, if I can get disciplined about my writing, I’ll be getting back to C25K very soon. I genuinely miss running and I want to get back to it.
I wanted to get my cardio session out of the way early because I have a TON of review comics and writing to do. I wasn’t doing any ARC reading during Camp NaNoWriMo so I need to get to them before they expire.
But I did cook something cool.
Butcher Box (not sponsored) has fun cuts of meat sometimes and I’ve never cooked a lamb leg before. I marinated it in crushed garlic, olive oil, lemon zest, dill, oregano, rosemary, and the juice of that same lemon. When the meat was almost done, I poured the rice in to cook in the juices. It turned out amazing! The lemon flavor is so nice, not bitter at all. I was worried about the marinating time with the lemon but I didn’t want the lemon to go bad and go to waste. I took a portion in with me for lunch and it reheated just fine in the microwave.
Now, I won’t be cooking this often since everything is so expensive now but I would totally make this for a holiday. Unless I suddenly sell bajillions of books or I can get some lamb on sale. One thing I learned from this is I need a mortar and pestle for food. I have one for witchy things but it would have come in handy making this marinade. It was a pain to smash the garlic and herbs together without it.
I have the habit of not eating breakfast. I tend to hit snooze until the last possible second and I’m not hungry first thing after I wake up. Today, I tried to get up early and make myself something simple that wouldn’t upset my stomach but filling enough that I’m not starving by lunch time. I did a crappy job cutting up the hard boiled egg but I put it on toast with a little butter and it was fine! The black spots are the lemon pepper grinder from Trader Joe’s.
I was still hungry around lunch time; which was leftovers from the previous night: Pasta, sliced garlic, olive oil, and diced tomatoes topped with some mozzarella.
When time came for dinner, I wasn’t really that hungry. I ended up just having a snack before my workouts.
I did my body weight workouts with a few extra reps thrown in there. I’m sure it will take time to see more changes in my body, particularly my abs but I think it’s worthwhile to continue getting up just a bit earlier to make sure I eat something and have some coffee before I really start my day. Especially the coffee…
