Get Routine For Once

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Last evening would have been a good opportunity to get going with an exercise routine.  I was not dead tired when I got home, dinner was quick and easy, and I was up and doing things by the time I figure I will need to leave in order to hit the Y.  There was a reason (on the Y end, weirdly enough) not to start yesterday, but it would sure be nice if I have the same chance tonight.  I did get an unusual number of things done for a weeknight, so that was good.  Dishes are all caught up, kitchen clean, laundry good.  I have some detail cleaning - a fair amount of it, actually - and lots of decluttering on the to do list, but the day to day stuff is in pretty good shape.

I did spend entirely too much time watching pizza videos on Instagram.  I might have to start some dough tomorrow and do a regulation pizza on Saturday instead of a cracker crust.  We'll see if that happens. 

Scale was down this morning, it helped that things cleared out.  BP good if still on the high end of good, pulse WTF low.  I don't see much point in resetting the cuff and redoing it for pulse, I would know if my pulse was super low or high.  Since today should be almost an exact carbon copy of yesterday - other than an extra egg and fewer spicy beans at lunch and add leftover green beans at dinner, hopefully tomorrow is good too. 

Breakfast:  2 slices Sargento smokehouse cheddar, orange juice, coffee

 

Again.  I still would like to know what genius decided to put 11 slices in a package.  Come on guys that's not divisible by anything.

Lunch:  3 eggs over medium,  3 strips thick cut bacon, 1 C spicy beans

 

Didn't mention yesterday, but I trimmed the bacon to use some in the beans so these slices are about 25% shorter than a normal slice.

Dinner:  Leftover busy day casserole in a bit of EVOO, leftover green beans, leftover biscuit, 12 oz Miller Lite 

 

Last of the leftovers.  I really should eat at the table, you know?

And the capper, peanut cookies and 2% milk.  Finished off the whole milk yesterday.

Exercise:  Nope.  Did not happen.

96.2

Dollars Spent / Remaining:  $ 0.00 / $ 22.24 

No spending to report.  Feels good.

Bit Up

Monday, February 2, 2026

Lots of words yesterday, not so many today.

Scale up a bit, not a surprise with the weekend diet and being rather backed up.  Screwed up my routine and forgot to take a BP.   A fairly sluggish morning, though I'm not overly fatigued.

Breakfast:  2 slices Sargento smokehouse cheddar, orange juice, coffee

 

Sargento was cheaper than the store brand this time (with careful shopping).  Found I had one more OJ in the fridge so I'll be using that up this week.

Lunch:  2 eggs over medium, 3 strips thick cut bacon, spicy beans

 

A little heavy on the beans since this was the oddball quantity from yesterday's batch plus I used up all my 1C and 2C containers.  Not crazy excessive though.  And they turned out good even with less bacon and no bell pepper.

Dinner:  Leftover busy day casserole w a bit of EVOO, 12 oz Miller Lite

 

Lots of leftovers this week.  And how about that, this was even better the 2nd night.  Let's hope the same is true when I eat the rest tomorrow night.

 

Then you have the capper, peanut cookies and a glass of milk.

Exercise:  Nope.  I considered it, but for reasons not worth getting into decided against.  Man I wish I could get on a consistent schedule where morning workouts were a realistic possibility again.   I'm going to have to settle for evenings I'm afraid.

98.0

Dollars Spent / Remaining:  $0.00 / $22.24

No reason to track consecutive days this month since that's not the goal.  Also, in case it wasn't clear, the $16.20 on yesterday to Amazon is the flour that I pre-ordered so it would arrive in time.  Turns out I didn't need it - I still have about a half pound left of the last bag - but regardless, I am including the expense in February's budget.  After beer, it's the second most expensive item planned for the month.

The February Five

Sunday, February 1, 2026

January is in the books.  I'm going to call it mostly successful. 

On the weight loss front, the surface view is tremendous success.  The scale is more than 25 lb down.  If you look deeper you see that somewhere between 15 and 20 of that was insta-dumped water from eating dreadfully around the holidays.  So it's not all THAT impressive.  But still, there is some actual drop.  And that water needed to go.  I was pleased to see a small drop today after a LOT of carbs yesterday.

Exercise was a complete fail.  I'm not in good shape.  Though one positive, when carrying in the groceries (a heavy load) I effectively stress tested my bad knee and it did better than last time.  It's not strong, it's not 100%, heck there may not be any ligaments attached, but it wasn't outright bad like it had been.  I think it's time to see if a little walking will be OK.

Work was a mixed bag.  I made progress on organization.  I still have too much going on and an enormous backlog.  But I have identified some goals - I want to get to a position where I don't have to put in more than 4 hours on the weekend so I can do that sometime on Saturday and take Sunday off to do chores, cook and rest.  That's the goal.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff.  No spend (on food) January was a tremendous success.  I decided to count the bag of pinto beans in January, so I ended up with an out of pocket spend of negative 14 cents.  I made less than ten dollars of purchases, which were fully covered by bottle returns.  I pre-ordered flour for February via Amazon gift card, so nothing out of pocket there.  I enjoyed the challenge and it was rewarding to see the sheet where I track spending be almost entirely blank this month.  I used up a lot of stock and saved at least $500.00, probably more.

For February, I have decided on something similar but not quite as dramatic -- I'm budgeting $5 a day, which is $35/week and $140.00 for the month.  Thankfully I still have a few things on hand.  But I have menus all mapped out and I think it is absolutely doable.  We will see.

Breakfast:  Spelt lazy bagels w chive and onion cream cheese, coffee

 

Baking the lazy bagels longer is definitely a good thing.  Highly enjoyable.  Bought the premium cream cheese as the store brand, while much cheaper, has three different vegetable gums in it.  Come on guys. 

Lunch:  Soup and samples

 

A soup from the freezer.  I'll also be eating bits of things I'm cooking today, of which there is quite a list.

 

Including some spicy beans.  No bell peppers and about 75% less bacon, but still tasty. 

Dinner:   Busy day casserole, cheesy green beans, NSA peaches, grands biscuits w butter, 12 oz Miller Lite, peanut choc chip cookies

 

Sunday dinners.  I made up my own recipe on the cookies, since I only had about 1/3 as many chocolate chips left as I needed to do pure choc chippers.  They turned out decent.

 

And the capper, a glass of whole milk. 

Exercise:  Nope.  Active but not dedicated.

96.8

Dollars Spent:  $ 101.56 ($1.56 out of pocket) Meijer + $ 16.20 ($ 0.00 out of pocket) Amazon. 

Dollars Remaining for February:  $ 22.24 

Shopping was interesting.  I had my list all worked out, checked all the prices in advance, and went.  I had to make eight adjustments by my count due to things being out of stock.  The only thing I couldn't do a direct sub on was a quart of yogurt - the premium brands are multiple dollars more.  Impulse bought one thing.  With the plusses and minuses I was about $2.00 over my budget, more than half of which was due to the fact that I forgot there is sales tax on beer.  I have enough wiggle room in my mid-month restock to cover it, plus I earned about $5.00 in rewards that will cover a container of yogurt if I can catch it in stock or another pound of butter if I run low. I'm on track so far.

Used gift cards to cover nearly all of the spend.  I'd go for another zero out of pocket month, but I am planning on hitting Wal Mart for the mid-month restock and they don't participate in the gift certificate program.  About twenty five dollars cash would be just fine. 

Out Of Thing

Saturday, January 31, 2026

TGIS.  Plan is to spend the day at work, but it's been nice easing into it.  I am relaxed, though I'm sure my blood pressure will rise once I'm there and digging into the piles of things that did not get accomplished this week.  Big piles.

Anyway, my good mood was enhanced by a nice drop on the scale.  I even feel a bit less fat in the midsection.  Only slightly, of course, but every little positive feel helps.  BP was a shade high, pulse normal.  Nothing concerning.

Finally encountered a "problem" (using that term VERY loosely) with running out of an ingredient here in no spend January.  I went to get some butter to finish my steak in the pan last night.  I was down to a two stick package of cultured butter.  Checked the date and ... OOPS.  Uh, the best by date was 10 months ago.  There are lots of times I'll have no problem with out of date food, but 10 months on butter seemed bad.  So I'm out of butter until tomorrow.  It wasn't a big deal, the steak was delicious anyway. 

Breakfast:  Sprouted oatmeal with maple syrup and milk, coffee

 

Impulse bought this bag of sprouted oats at the big health food store a couple months ago, decided to crack it open.  I'd usually have butter (not milk) but I improvised.  It was ... oatmeal.  Not exciting, but hot and reasonably enjoyable.  Will have again, since I have lots of oats and maple syrup.

Lunch:  3 eggs over medium, bone broth rice, chorizo gravy

 

Clean up on the eggs.  Tasty, hot and a lot of food.

Dinner:  Leftover steak in EVOO, mashed potatoes

 

Clean up on the steak and I think that was my last container of potatoes.

 

And the capper, the last of the chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. 

Exercise:  Nope.

97.4

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0.00 / 30

Last day!  Looking forward to a restock tomorrow ... in line with the next challenge.  Oh boy. 

Ready Set Cut

Friday, January 30, 2026

A busy end to a crazy week.  At least the very tail end of the day calmed down.  Sheesh.

Anyway, TGIF.  Planning to work tomorrow, shop bake and clean on Sunday.  Actually looking forward to it.  Even the work part - to have time to actually get things done is so valuable.

Scale was down a bit, which was a little surprising.  BP good, pulse normal.  

Breakfast:  Meijer extra sharp cheddar, coffee

 

Standard.  Ate a piece before taking the photo.

Lunch:  Leftover ovenburger, bone broth rice

 

Nothing huge, just quick and easy since I spent most of lunch running to Walmart for something for work.

Dinner:  NY Strip steak, mashed potatoes, Long Road polish falcon

 

Last falcon.  Steak from the freezer, at some point I bought a value pack and vacuum sealed several.  I'd prefer grilled all things being equal, but hey, it was all right.  Reverse sear ftw.

 

And the capper, chocolate chip cookies and whole milk.

Exercise:  Nope.  Not an active day either.

98.6

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0.00 ** / 29

Asterisking this one in the spirit of full disclosure.  I "spent" $1.32 on some pinto beans so I'd have them available to make spicy beans on Sunday (they need to soak) since I was at Walmart anyway.  Not counting it as dollars spent or breaking the streak, since (1)  I had that $1.46 in excess bottle returns cash from earlier in the month available, and (2) I'm going to include it in February's totals anyway as if I had purchased them on Sunday.   Similarly, I ordered flour from Amazon so that it would be delivered, used a gift card so $0.00 spent and I won't use it before Sunday (assuming it arrives) and will count the $16.20 non-cash expense in February.  I'm not looking to make this unnecessarily difficult - Sunday is really the only day I can do serious cooking and it happens to be the first of the month.

Junior Day

Thursday, January 29, 2026

Welcome to Thursday, or as some people call it, Friday Junior.  It's about as much Friday as Fredo was Corleone if you ask me, but some folks believe it.  It was a busy morning.

Scale finally ticked down below the point of resistance.  Of course no obvious explanation why, lots of carbs especially late and no exercise, but hey no complaints.  BP fine, pulse normal high.

At least the busiest part of the week is done and there is a weekend in view.  Let's get there.

Breakfast:  Meijer extra sharp cheddar, coffee

 

Had to leave early so no bone broth. 

Lunch:  Leftover enchilada eggs, bone broth rice

 

Bigger portion of eggs today, I guess my cuts were not precisely equal.  

Dinner:  Leftover ovenburger, mashed potatoes

 

Saving my last falcon for tomorrow since I have a meeting.

 

Plus the capper, chocolate chip cookies and whole milk.

Exercise:  Nope

99.2

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $0.00 / 28

So far anyway this week's menu has worked out.  I have stuff for tomorrow and Saturday lined up.  As long as I shop on Sunday as planned, no problem. 

Never Look Things Up

Wednesday, January 28, 2026

Whew.  It was a busy day.  Too busy to start this post before dinnertime.  I had a quick lunch and was right back at it.

Not much of note.  Scale flat, BP ok, pulse WTF low.  It actually felt low this morning, but not that low.  I have never had much trust in this particular device anyway.

Breakfast:  Meijer extra sharp cheddar, coffee

 

Again.  Was thinking bone broth but I had to get blood drawn, so out the door I went brothless.

Lunch:  Leftover enchilada eggs, bone broth rice

 

So I had a brothy lunch instead.  Tasty and I was well-sated all afternoon.

Dinner:  1/3 lb ovenburger, mashed potatoes, Long Road polish falcon

 

A cheese-sparing dinner.  I could probably have gone with some but since I planned on the mash figured nah.  Oh, and I made the mistake of looking up the polish falcon.  Figured it had a lot of sugar, figured correctly - 280 calories and 37g of carbs.  LOL.  At least I only have one left.  Too bad, they're tasty.

 

The capper, the usual, chocolate chip cookies and whole milk.

Exercise:  Sadly, nope. 

100.4

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0.00 / 27

Getting close, actually looking forward to grocery shopping on Sunday. 

Cheese Sparing

Tuesday, January 27, 2026

Hey, something different.  I had a couple things to clean up for breakfast so for once I had no cheese.  It was a nice change of pace.

Otherwise, I was happy to see the scale down despite the excessive rice.  Still need to think about being a little more restrictive and I definitely need more activity.

Breakfast:  NR gyro strips, chicken bone broth, coffee

 

 

Had a couple strips I couldn't fit in the pan yesterday and a few ounces of broth.  Cleaned them both up.  Really enjoyed the broth, I think I have some more in the pantry and if so this is the time of year to be sippin' it.

 

Had a cupcake and a bit of banana bread as a mid morning snack courtesy of a co-worker.  

Lunch:   Leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans

 

Cooked up the loaf and beans in a little butter/EVOO.  All very tasty.  And quick.

Dinner:  Enchilada eggs, Long Road polish falcon

 

More cleanup.  Used up peppers and onions, a can of chiles, a roll of sausage and all but three eggs.

 

And the capper, chocolate chip cookies and whole milk.

Exercise:  Nope.  Another brutal wintery day.

100.4

Dollars Spent:  $ 0.00 / 26 

I am cracking up at my fridge.  The bottom two shelves consist of half a block of cheese, a pound of ground beef, three eggs, a pack of bacon that I'm saving for February and two polish falcons.  So empty!  I'll add two containers with leftover enchilada eggs for tomorrow and Thursday, but it's still lol bare. 

Overricing

Monday, January 26, 2026

It was a Monday.  And it will soon be over.

Actually it wasn't that bad.  It was not great, but it wasn't terrible either.  Which is good, considering it had that potential.

Scale was fine, considering.  I'll take it as a win.  BP number was a little weird, the 2nd number was high.  But not worth worrying about.  

Breakfast:  Meijer extra sharp cheddar cheese, coffee

 

Again.

Lunch:  CF jerky, bone broth rice

 I really need to date everything in my freezer, I definitely wonder how long the jerky had been in there.  The flavor was fine, the texture well let's just say it was a little dry and chewy.  I screwed up rice packaging and had an extra one in the fridge to eat up, so it was a very rice-y day.

Dinner:  NR gyro meat, bone broth rice, Long Road polish falcon

 

Very tasty.  The falcon is Long Road's take on the Moscow mule, I enjoyed it.

 

And the capper, chocolate chip cookies and whole milk.

Exercise:  Nope.  Same reasons.

101.8

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0.00 / 25

Getting quite used to this.  As long as I have something to eat - and I have the week mapped out - I'm good.  Having no convenience foods on hand has been surprisingly not much of an issue.  No snacking is a big win, even if I'm not losing weight. 

Excessive Reclining

Sunday, January 25, 2026

There is an obvious downside to days like yesterday, where I don't even leave the house:  I spend entirely too much time in the recliner.  Yesterday may have been the most extreme edition ever, the hour total was ridiculous.  I will be at least a little more active today.

I expected my sleep to be a bit off after getting eight hours Friday night but good grief.  I did not get to sleep until 2:30.  Hours and hours past my bedtime.  Just was not sleepy.  Woke up at 6:30 and got no meaningful sleep after that despite being very dozy.  Took until 8:30 to get going.  Pathetic.  But thank goodness it's the weekend.

Also a predictable consequence of too many hours in the recliner, too many carbs and general inactivity:  Weight gain.  BP number was good, pulse only somewhat WTF high.

Let's have a day.

Breakfast:  Spelt lazy bagels with cream cheese, coffee

 

Baked them longer and they were very good.

Part of the interesting challenge of zero food spend January and my upcoming plans for February involves working around things I run out of.  I know I'm going to run out of K cups and I currently don't have a restock in the plan.  I have a packet of french roast I got in a Christmas box that will probably cover things for a couple weekends - I never have coffee at home during the week anyway.  But it's another thing that I will be completely out of by the end of next month.

Lunch:  NR gyro slices, bone broth basmati rice, Meijer hot dill pickle spear

 

A meat item from the freezer and cooked up the rest of my rice stock to use that up and the rest of the bone broth.  Also ate the last pickle.

Dinner:  Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, cheesy green beans, NSA peaches, 12 oz Miller Lite, chocolate chip cookies

 

Sunday dinners.  All good.  Ate a bit much.  Cookies were okay, not the finest batch, but I used up the chocolate chips, brown sugar and almost all of the flour.

 

And the capper, a glass of milk.

Exercise:  

101.8

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $0.00 / 24 

Great Eight

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Hey, how about that.  I was able to roll over (figuratively) and get back to sleep this morning and I'm almost certain that I actually got eight hours total.  That's a huge win.  Now if only I could do that regularly that would be great.  Don't think my brain will allow for it, though.

Frigid start which has me dawdling.  Plan is to work today, "rest" tomorrow, but my will to go in is being tested.  I will at some point, but won't get a full day.  My long term objective is to not need more than four hours per weekend, but I'm a long ways from that.

Minimal tick down on the scale, BP in range shaded high, WTF low pulse. 

Breakfast:  Spelt lazy bagel, Meijer sausage patty, coffee

 

Decided to try and make a breakfast sandwich.  I think I need to bake longer when I use the spelt flour.  Would have liked a slice of cheese and an egg.  Still, pretty good.  Would make again ... but that was my last sausage patty so I guess I won't anytime soon.  Finished off the everything bagel seasoning too, but I have another one of those on hand.

Lunch:  Leftover oven cheeseburger, 1 C spicy beans, basmati rice cooked in chicken bone broth

 

Had a just past date box of bone broth and a partial bag of basmati to use up, chopped up the last burger and tossed it in with the beans.  Very tasty, if a bit much.  Did a quick freezer inventory, looks like I am now out of beans.  On the list of things to make next Sunday.

Dinner:  Home cracker crust pizza with bacon and jalapenos, Long Road lavender lemonade

 

Keeping with the theme, last of the bacon, pizza sauce, mozzarella and the lavender lemonades. Almost killed the parmesan and jar of jalapenos.  I might have to take a photo of what my fridge looks like next weekend.  The freezer isn't too bad - I added rice today and I have a number of things I need to toss (but am putting off doing until it's less cold outside).  Pizza was excellent btw.

 

And the capper, the last of this week's chocolate chip cookies with a glass of whole milk. 

Exercise:  Nope.  Brr.  And other reasons.

100.6 

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0.00 / 23 

Into The Deep Freeze

Friday, January 23, 2026

Brrr.  Below zero this morning and tonight is supposed to be truly exceptional.  Not my favorite weather.  On the plus side, lots of things are closed today so my schedule is pretty clear.  Maybe I can get some work done.

Spent some time last night having fun with numbers.  I have been figuring out what I want to do for my February challenge after no spend (on food) January.  I think I pretty much have it sorted, but am going to run through different scenarios this weekend.  As a preview it's a continuation of January's theme of eating down the stock of stuff on hand and spending less, just not $0.00.  It's pretty handy to have online and app access to store pricing information so I can know and map out what I'll be spending on February 1.

Otherwise, small drop on the scale, BP okay but shaded a bit high, pulse number WTF.  I have never been good at getting my own pulse, but I'm pretty sure this number is way off.  I do wonder if it's an irregular heartbeat, will get that checked at my next medical appointment.

Breakfast:  Meijer extra sharp cheddar, coffee

 

Again.  No cacao butter today.  I should check to see if there is a weight difference between the block and the pre-sliced, they are priced the same.

Lunch:  2 eggs over medium, mashed potatoes, 2 Meijer sausage patties

 

Again.

Dinner:  Leftover oven cheeseburger w/mustard, guacamole, jalapenos, Long Road lavender lemonade 

 

Giving up on what's left of my unopened wine.  I'll take the L and stick to buying beer in the future.  I have a few of these Long Road cocktails left from the basket I won last year, may as well drink them up too.

 

And the capper, chocolate chip cookies and whole milk. 

Exercise:  Nope.  Brrr.  Need to get going, vacation in < 7 weeks and must be in walking shape.

101.0

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0.00 / 22 

Honestly it's kinda nice not going to the grocery store. 

Don't Know The Difference

Thursday, January 22, 2026

Another day where I just shake my head, shrug and admit that I have no idea.  I'm still puzzled by the recent upticks, but at least when I got on the scale this morning I got a nice drop.  Despite it all.  I will say that I was pleasantly satisfied last night, not overfull, not hungry, just right.

Sleep was okay, again didn't feel real deep.  Woke up a little before 6:00.  Going back to sleep is definitely an issue right now, can't keep the brain shut off.  BP in range if a bit on the high side.

Breakfast:  Meijer extra sharp cheddar, coffee

 

Again.  No cacao butter in coffee.

Lunch:  2 eggs over medium, 1 C spicy beans, 2 Meijer sausage patties

 

Tasty.  Down to three sausage patties and about a dozen eggs, so I won't be eating this every day the rest of the month.  Beans instead of potatoes for a change of pace, so good.

Dinner:  1/3 lb home oven cheeseburger with mustard, guacamole, Meijer hot dill pickles, jalapenos

 

Very tasty again.  I really need to make ovenburgers a weekly staple.  Three meals for very little effort.  Definitely running on fumes ingredient wise - I shaved a bit off my block of cheddar, leaving just enough for tomorrow, a bit off the mozzarella, down to the last couple pickles and one more guac cup.

 

And the capper.  Chocolate chip cookies and whole milk. 

Exercise:  Nope.  Again.

101.4

Dollars Spent / Consecutive Days:  $ 0 / 21

Oddly enough I did go to Meijer and spent a bunch of money, but it was supplies for work only and on their card.  So I spent nothing.