Busy and Holy **** Tomorrow IS APRIL

Monday, March 31, 2014

Not ready for it to be Monday.  It is going to be a crazy busy day.

I wonder if I replaced the batteries in my scale if it would be more accurate.  It bounces all over the place.  This morning, the numbers were surprisingly lower than I would have expected considering last night's blowout.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories)

Lunch:  Subway 6" ham and provolone on jalapeno cheese, all the veg except spinach, southwest sauce (470 calories).

Forgot to take a picture, but not like I haven't had this before.  Last day though for both the $3 sub (oh no it goes back to $3.50) and the jalapeno cheese bread.  Too bad on both accounts.

Dinner:  Beef soft tacos (925 calories)

Taco Monday!

Leftover meat from Saturday.  5 corn tortillas, iceberg, salsa verde and a big 150g avocado.  Oh, and hot sauce.  I might need to dial back the hot sauce.  Just a bit.

Dessert:  1/4 Theo 85% cacao chocolate bar, 2 T Meijer natural peanut butter.  (305 calories)

Also previously pictured, this time with more PB.  I bought creamy PB for the next time.

Day totals: 1,885 calories.  Maybe I should have eaten more at lunch (and less dinner ldo)

Exercise:  Nope.  Crazy work day.

105.2

Two Step Future Action Plan

Sunday, March 30, 2014

I hate to think about it, but it really is the truth.  If I want to lose the weight at an accelerated pace, I need to do two things.  Simple things.  One, cut the starch.  My weight fluctuates too much and I retain fluid when I eat it.  I have been ending up between 100g and 150g of carb most days, it needs to be under 50g.  Second, I need to exercise.  Walk, building right back up to 3 miles a day.  An hour a day is not in any way too much time, it's a small investment in well being.  So:  When I get back from vacation, I need to do these.

Tired this morning, stayed up to watch the basketball.   Better off if I don't care, or if I had a DVR.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).

Photo evidence of something

No real way to make this interesting, I'm afraid.  Another Sunday of trying to eat the usual breakfast, so that I can have a good lunch and then the usual dinner issues.

Lunch:  3 eggs fried in a bit of butter, 4 strips Plumrose bacon, 2 C Alexia hash browns (815 calories)

Cracked open the new, giant bottle of hot sauce too

Almost perfect.  I forgot to turn the heat down on the hash browns, so they were just a bit toasty.  Otherwise fantastic.  I didn't reduce the quantity on anything and actually added an egg, since it's early, a long time to dinner and I was hungry.  Hope I can be responsible tonight.

Snack:  2 slices sourdough toast with peanut butter (570 calories).

The ever-glamorous stovetop paper plate shot

Got very hungry.  This was an irresponsible choice.

Dinner:  Canned spaghetti with ground beef, salad with homemade ranch, garlic toast (1,500 calories)

Not pictured:  Seconds.

Yikes.  I got carried away.  Oh, and that is way more dressing than I usually use!

Day Totals:  3,070 calories.  And that might be conservative.

Exercise:  Nope.  Puttered around the house, that's it.

105.2

Time At Fast Forward Speed

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Wow.  One week from right now I will be on vacation.  Yikes.  That's a scary prospect.  A lot of work needs to be done before I can go.  And the thought of being away for a full week is always terrifying.  At least with a phone and laptop I can do stuff that's urgent but maybe not right-at-that-minute critical.  Oh, and it will be APRIL on Tuesday.  March has gone by so fast.

In a pretty positive mood.  Saw some good things on the scale this morning.  Feel decent.  Really want to get out there and walk, weather is slowly getting to the point where that's easier.

Breakfast:  2 eggs cooked in a bit of butter, 4 strips Plumrose bacon, "2 C" Alexia hash browns fried in 2 T evoo, coffee (750 calories)

Weekends were made for this

It wasn't my finest breakfast effort - the bacon and hash browns were just a shade less done than I prefer, but it was still good.  Love breakfast.  Of course now I have to watch my calories the rest of the day, but given that I plan to just have pizza/salad and tacos and I know what the numbers are on those it shouldn't be too hard to manage.  No dessert though.  Oh, and I did weigh the hash browns this morning - I was definitely shorting myself using volume measurement and that explains why I got so many more servings out of the bag.  I think I might actually dial back from 3 servings to 2, when weighed 3 is a lot!  #fatguyproblems.

Lunch:  Einkorn/parmesan crust pizza with ham, salad (625 calories)

Another tasty salad variation, even without dressing

Bumped up the cheese on the pizza to 3/8 C.  No avocado today, just iceberg lettuce, pickle and red salsa plus whatever part of the ham I didn't put on the pizza.  I'm also out of pickles and iceberg ... guess I need to restock a couple things!

Dinner:  Homemade beef soft tacos (675 calories)

Adios, bottle of Tapatio.  Kaput.

Good as always.  Very simple this time, just iceberg, a little red salsa and hot sauce.  And lots of beef.  Good CF beef.  It occurs to me that I have been eating a lot of hot sauce.

Day Totals:  2,050 calories.  Just a shade high.  I guess I could have skipped a tortilla or that extra 1/8 C of cheese.  Oh, well.  It's the weekend and I've been active.

Exercise:  Nope.  I had hopes for walking this morning.  Got up again.  Didn't get out there.  At least it was a very active day doing stuff around the house.

103.2

Not Much Action In This Action Shot

Friday, March 28, 2014

TGIF as usual.  Dragging this morning, didn't get enough quality sleep.  Not sure why, went to bed early.  Definitely woke up more than usual.  Oh, well.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).  Standard.

ZOMG breakfast action shot!

No idea why I felt the need for a photo this morning.  I might be loopy.

Lunch:  Five Guys cheeseburger with mustard, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion and jalapenos (875 calories) a small serving of peanuts in the shell (175 calories)

Not pictured:  Peanuts

This was a really good burger, and for $6.09 plus tax not all that outrageous.  I decided to go with the regular (double) burger instead of the little burger and passed on the fries.  I did have some peanuts while waiting though.  I think I may be overstating the calories on those, but hard to say, not like I weighed them.

Dinner:  Einkorn/parmesan crust pizza with ham, green power salad (750 calories)

Just made up that whole "green power" name because it's ALL green.

You gotta love pizza.  And this was a great salad.  Iceberg, 1/2 a pickle, salsa verde and a nice big 120g avocado.  Super yum.  I determined before cooking that eating the avocado would mean no dessert tonight (well, that and the peanuts at lunch, stupid peanuts).  I'm happy with the choice.

Day Totals:  1,985 calories.  Bingo.

Exercise:  Nope.  Another good day of getting up early though.  Pleased with that, though I was more tired than I have been.

105.4

Working Until The Weekend ... And Then Working Some More Probably

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Another long day upcoming.  I need to just CRANK out some work.  We'll see if that happens.  Between being tired, allergies, dealing with constant interruptions and just plain not being motivated it could get ugly.  But I need to keep reminding myself that if I have any hope of a full day of relaxation this weekend I need to get some stuff done.  A lot of stuff.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).  The usual.

Lunch:  Jimmy Johns #5 Vito sandwich, pickle (700 calories)

Doesn't that look like more calories to you?

I am surprised.  The Jimmy Johns website says that the sandwich has 644 calories.  That seems low.  Maybe I'm unfairly comparing it to the giant club sandwiches that have more meat, dunno.  Anyway, rounded up a bit just in case.

Dinner:  5 VanDeKamp's crispy fish filets, salad with romaine, salsa and salsa verde, pickle, 125g avocado (800 calories)

Hey look a salad that's not ALL green!

Decided to live it up and cracked open some red salsa to add to the salad.  And had a big avocado just at the peak of ripeness.  With some calories to play with, why not?  A tasty dinner.  I wonder if I can find a recipe for spicy breaded white fish.  Hmm...

Dessert:  1/4 of a Theo 85% cacao chocolate bar plus 1 T of meijer crunchy natural peanut butter (205 calories).  Yep.  Why not.

This is yum.

A very nice dessert bite.  Yum.

Day Totals:  1,890 calories.  Pretty awesome to hit target and to not be hungry.

Exercise:  No, although I feel good about getting up shortly after 5 for a number of days in a row.  I didn't even snooze a bit this morning and felt pretty good, hard surface sleeping is helping.  What else would help is some weight loss though, my knees are still super cranky.

103.0

I Swear I Am Not Jared

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

I have obviously had Subway a lot lately.  Not entirely sure why other than the fact that it's a reasonable combination of cheap and not overly calorific.  I have been seriously considering making that lunch like 4 days a week.  I could certainly eat better food and for less if I ate at home, but it does provide a nice assortment of veggies and it's quick and easy.  Not sure I'll go for it, but I'm at least considering the idea.  One downside is the continued starch, but hmm.  We'll see.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).  The usual.

Lunch:  Western omelet, 2 slices sourdough toast with butter, coffee (800 calories) slice of pie (400 calories)

Let's put the (lousy) picture of dessert first!

Extra yum today.  

Out to lunch, had breakfast as usual.  The pie was a surprise, a present from our server, homemade.  I'm not going to say no even if I should.  It was very good.  The calories count is a total guess, it may even be low though I bet it's pretty close.

Dinner:  5 VanDeKamp frozen breaded fish filets, romaine green salad (575 calories)

Hey, something different!  And no hot sauce required.

This was a meh idea.  I saw that the fish was on sale, plus I had a coupon.  So tonight's main course cost something like $1.50.  It was tasty enough - I like breaded whitefish.  I'm just not real crazy about the ingredient list, too many, um, "ingredients".  So if I'm going to eat fish, I'm going to have to start buying plain old flash frozen no preservative filets.  Maybe I won't even need breading, dunno.  Anyway, tasty enough.  Skipped the plan to make homemade tartar sauce, didn't need the calories.  And the salad was super simple, romaine, pickle and salsa verde.  No dressing.

Day Totals:  1,960 calories.  Yep.  Plus or minus a hundred or so due to pie.

Exercise:  Yeah, um, no.  Better day for getting up and staying up early though.

105.0

Inconsistency in Enthusiasm

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I'm fairly frustrated by the wild swings in my level of enthusiasm.  Last week I was driven to succeed at work.  This week (so far) I am tired, bored and apathetic.  It would be nice if I would grow up already.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).   The usual.

Lunch:  Subway 6" ham and provolone on jalapeno cheddar, all veggies no spinach, southwest sauce (470 calories)

Same meal, different picture.

One of the better Subways I've had.  Then again, no reason I couldn't just get this as a salad.  I should look into whether it's still $3.00 plus tax if I do it that way.  I really should have some nuts or something in my office to snack on at the end of the day - this just isn't quite enough calories to get me comfortably to dinner.

Dinner:  Breakfast bowl again, this time 2 eggs fried in a bit of butter, the rest of the 'sausage', and 252g of the Alexia hash browns (2 C) in 2 T evoo (1,100 calories)

If this bowl is full of anything other than lettuce...
 you know I ate too much.

Again a lot of calories but a lot of food.  I cut the eggs from 3 to 2, skipped the sour cream and scrambling and didn't open another can of salsa.  Super delicious as is, even though the eggs were a bit overdone.  I was amused to determine that I had 209g of hash browns left in the package for today after I had already used 2 cups 3 times, so either I way undershot or else the package information is messed up.  The sausage was better the second day, which wasn't much of a surprise.  More time for the flavors to meld.  And I overestimated the calories slightly both days, since I have counted way more green pepper and onion than I actually put in.

Dessert:  3/4 oz (1/4th of a) Theo 85% cacao chocolate bar, 1 T meijer natural crunchy peanut butter (205 calories)

Lousy picture of a dessert

This was pretty good - I mean, it's chocolate and peanut butter.  Not as perfectly paired as a less intense chocolate and creamy peanut butter, but it's what I had on hand and still a lovely treat.

Day Totals:  1,960 calories.  Yep.  And I even had dessert.

Exercise:   Nope.  Being a little active this evening but again nothing that counts.  Soon I hope.  Going to be an early to bed kind of night.

105.6

Oh Here We Go Again

Monday, March 24, 2014

Oh look, it's Monday again.  I'm actually not too upset about that fact, though the upcoming week is pretty much going to suck.  I am fairly content with the projects I got done this weekend, though I certainly would have liked to have accomplished more yesterday.  Anyway, on we go.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).  Usual.

Lunch:  6 inch ham and provolone on jalapeno cheddar from Subway (470 calories)

Not a stock photo, though it is a stock sandwich.
Hard to beat for the price.

As has been the usual lately all the veggies except spinach plus southwest sauce.  It's not great but it is edible, $3 plus tax and not terribly calorific.  Re-checking the Subway site I did not use correct numbers for the times I splurged and got double meat.  Oh, well.  At least it wasn't like I forgot a pan of brownies.

Dinner:  Breakfast bowl (3 eggs scrambled w/ 1T sour cream in a bit of butter, 1/2 lb seasoned ground pork, green peppers, onions, 2 C+ Alexia seasoned hash browns) with salsa verde and hot sauce (1,250 calories)

The bowl.  Yum.

This was a lot of food.  And it was good.  I originally wasn't going to add eggs since I was planning on having those for lunch, but since I didn't get lunch until 3:00, I decided to scramble a couple up and throw them in the bowl.  I'll have something like this again tomorow!

I am fairly perplexed by the hash browns (LOL volume measurements).  The serving size is 2/3 C.  It says there are about 9 services in a package.  So 2/3 x 9 = 18/3 = 6 C or thereabouts.  I measured and ate 2 C on Saturday and Sunday.  I didn't measure today but it was at least 2 C, probably a bit more.  And yet there is still quite a bit left in the package!  I don't get it.  I did buy another bag, so after I finish this one I'll measure by weight next time.

Day Total:  1,905 calories.  Check.  They could be distributed better but I'm happy.

Exercise:  Nope.  Not enough sleep.  Tired today.

105.6

How I Know

Sunday, March 23, 2014

How I know that I need to cut the starch?  Still have a bunch of water weight.  How I know that I need to exercise?  Unrealistic expectations are not being met when it comes to the pace of loss.  Oh there is a bunch of other stuff I know, but who cares?

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories)

Experiment time.  Having the usual weekday breakfast with plans to have an early-ish lunch.  Maybe not as early as it might be come summer, but still.  We'll see how it goes.

Lunch:  2 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 4 strips meijer bacon, 2 C Alexa seasoned hash browns fried in 2 T evoo (760 calories)

Hey look, it's a bowl

Same as yesterday's breakfast just with one less egg, one more strip of bacon and served in a bowl.  The bowl actually worked quite nice.  Anyway, I was kind of inspired by the presentation - there are a ton of variations on this that would be good.  I'm going to try one with seasoned ground pork tomorrow for dinner, I think.  I could do a western bowl with ham and green peppers, maybe scramble the eggs.  Add cheese.  I could skip the eggs, do it with beef and maybe some tomato.  Of course I could just use a regular potato, too.  I will say that the frozen hash browns are easy, though.  This is one of those times where paying for convenience isn't terrible.  Oh, and I found they were $0.28 less at meijer!

Dinner:  Chop suey casserole, green beans with cheddar cheese, roll with butter, a little applesauce (1,200 calories)

Calories are definitely a guess on this one.  I didn't go nuts but I did eat quite a bit.  Seems to be my destiny on Sunday nights.  At least I refrained from eating any cake.

Day Total:  2,145 calories.  More or less.  Satisfied with this - I think the small breakfast on Sundays in particular is the way to go given my dinner issues.

Exercise:  Nope.  Much less active today.  Tired, even took a nap.

108.6

Which Sauce?

Saturday, March 22, 2014

I was thinking last night about hot sauce.  I have been enjoying a bottle of Tapatio I bought on a whim and that had been languishing unopened until lately.  At lunch yesterday I had some Marie Sharp's.  I know there are hundreds of sauces out there, maybe I need to start looking around.  But maybe not right away, since I bought a huge bottle of Tapatio on closeout at Meijer last week for $1.04.

Breakfast:  3 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 3 strips Meijer bacon, 2 C Alexia hash browns with onion, garlic and white pepper cooked in 2 T evoo, coffee (800 calories)

Pretty much breakfast perfection on a plate

I had to pick up something at Wal Mart last night, so I looked at their hash brown selections.  The Alexia potatoes sounded good, they didn't have preservatives or additives and I had enough room in the budget so I went with them.  Oh my.  Very tasty.  I could probably dial down my serving a bit - the potatoes and oil are more than half of the calorie count for this meal - but still:  Yum.

Oh, and the plan for tomorrow is to try a small breakfast and to do this meal for an early lunch.  I hope it works out!

Lunch:  Beef soft corn tacos (650 calories)

It bugs me when I forget to take a picture, only to remember just after I finish eating.  Grr.  Anyway, this was the leftovers from last night.  Kept it to 4 tortillas, no sour cream or avocado.  Yum.

Dinner:  Personal einkorn/parmesan crust pizza with ham, romaine salad no dresssing (575 calories)

Yo man where's the dressing?

Pizza was superb as always.  It was a little thinner than usual and I think I prefer it that way.  I like a crispy crunchy crust - edge pieces are always my favorite with a thin crust.  Anyway, just topped it with some ham I wanted to use up -- also being calorie conscious.  As for the salad, I was lazy and didn't make any dressing.  My buttermilk was expired anyway.  Turns out it was just fine without it.

Day total:  2,025 calories.  Right on.

Exercise:  Nothing formal.  But I did work around the house all day and ran a couple errands, so I was definitely more active than usual.  Tired by the end!

108.4

Now With Less Subway

Friday, March 21, 2014

Well then.  I can't remember ever eating Subway twice in one day.  I'm not a fan, really, but it's edible.  Let's move on.  Anyway, it's Friday and TGIF.  I am hoping for a weekend plan of getting a lot of stuff done on Saturday followed by some time off on Sunday.  I didn't do that last weekend - worked Sunday - and I've been more burned out this week than usual as a result.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories)

I probably will not do it until I come back from spring break and things settle into the summer routine, but another weekend thing that I think I should try is eating the small breakfast.  It's just easier to keep the calories in check when I can eat 900 calories each for lunch and dinner and not worry about going over.  The summer routine should help, since I'll be out an about on Saturday morning after breakfast and will probably be looking to have an early lunch on Sunday.

Lunch:  Western omelet, 2 slices sourdough toast with butter, coffee (800 calories)

Good stuff, you betcha

Decided to go out.  I'll end up slightly over budget for the week but not by enough to be upset.

Dinner:  Beef soft corn tacos deluxe (950 calories)

I know, it looks like all my other pictures of tacos

I added all kinds of stuff, basically everything except tomato and jalapeno and cheese.  5 tortillas, the full half pound of meat, iceberg, avocado, sour cream, hot sauce and verde salsa.  Yum!  And leftovers!

Day total:  1,935 calories.  I am so tempted to go eat 65 calories of peanut butter.

Exercise:  Nope.  I have gotten up at 5:00 two days in a row, though, so I have hopes.

108.0

Well This Could Be Something

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Up super early.  Unfortunately it's not to exercise, it's because I ran out of gas for work stuff yesterday and I have a deadline today.  If I could just adjust and keep getting up at this time (dubious) I could really get back into walking and that would be awesome.  Expectations are low, though.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).

The usual.

Lunch:  Subway 6" double meat ham and provolone sub, all the veggies except spinach, southwest sauce (470 calories)

For a picture, see dinner.

Dinner:  Subway 6" double meat ham and provolone sub, same as lunch (470 calories)

Forgot picture at lunch, barely remembered at dinner!

Yep, had the same thing twice in one day.  I really need to consider some other on the go options.  Or, better yet, not be so freaking busy that I can't stop for lunch.  I almost went Jimmy Johns for lunch but at least at Subway I know what the calories are, they'll add lots of veg, and the regular ham six inch is only $3 this month.

Dessert:  3 T meijer natural peanut butter (300 calories)

Day total:  1,425 calories.  Hardly seems possible!  And I really wasn't hungry.  Being busy will do that I guess.  Now watch, I'll need 3,000 tomorrow.

Exercise:  Sigh.  Nope.

107.4

Pressure So Much Pressure

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

The pressure is starting to build at work.  More work to do than time to do it.  It's bad.  Going to be a challenging day.

Otherwise things are going quite well other than exercise.  I'm feeling more motivated today on that front than I have for a while - I have read quite a few things lately about how people are successful losing weight by keeping their calories in line and walking.  That's consistent with my experience - although less starch would also be good - but still affirming to read.

Breakfast:  2.5 oz Meijer swiss cheese, coffee (280 calories)

It occurred to me that I'm not going to be following up on my cordon bleu plans right now so I may as well eat up the swiss before opening another package of something.  Conclusion:  By itself I don't really like swiss all that much.

Lunch:  Western omelet, 2 slices sourdough toast with butter, coffee (800 calories)

I remembered just in time to take the picture...

This wasn't one of the bigger omelets I've had, but it was just fine.  Added a couple drops of hot sauce obv.

Dinner:  Leftover beef soft corn tacos (750 calories)

Reasonably fast, definitely tasty.

Took the lazy approach and shaved a few calories by skipping sour cream, jalapeno, avocado etc.  Just had iceberg, verde salsa and hot sauce.  Still delicious.  6 tortillas.

Dessert:  ~ 3 T peanut butter (300 calories)

So calorific.

Day Total:  2,130.  Could be off some.  I didn't measure the PB, just had a good sized spoonful.  And who knows when you eat out.  Anyway, not awful.

Exercise:  Yeah, no.

108.0

Tuesday Is The New Monday

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

I woke up on schedule this morning and didn't feel too awful.  I got a bit more sleep than usual, which is a good thing.  Don't think that I'll be 100% until I do that consistently and also walk and cut the starch, but at least a small bump is a good thing.

Breakfast:  2.6 oz raw milk cheddar, coffee (300 calories)

That's how much I had left of the block so I ate it.  Good cheese, but it's pretty hard to beat the chemically-enhanced (?) taste of good old Kraft Sharp Cheddar.

Lunch:  Subway 6" ham (double meat) and provolone on jalapeno cheese, all the veggies except spinach, southwest sauce (530 calories).

I can't believe it but I forgot to take a picture.  I splurged and got double meat knowing that I'd have plenty of room in the calorie budget.  The downside, of course, is being a bit hungry come the end of the day.

Dinner:  Homemade ground beef soft corn tacos (925 calories)

Mouth sufficiently en fuego

These are always good.  6 tortillas tonight since I had the calories available and that was how many were left in the package.  Added some avocado - not all that much thanks to a HUGE seed.  Only 50g.  Super spicy meal!

Dessert:  2 T Meijer natural crunchy peanut butter (200 calories)

Day Total:  1,955 calories.  Yep.  I'd rather have had more of them at lunch, but so be it.

Exercise:  Nope.

110.0

Again With The Mondays

Monday, March 17, 2014

As usual, I was not ready for it to be Monday.  The feeling may have been exacerbated by the fact that I worked too much this weekend and left too many things partially finished.  I do not care for that feeling, not at all.

Breakfast:  2 oz raw milk cheddar cheese, coffee  (225 calories)

I had an open block that has been sitting in the fridge for a while, figured I had better use it up before opening another package of the slices.  Yes, I did measure it -- picked up new batteries for my scale yesterday and it works like a champ again.

Lunch:  2 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 4 strips Meijer bacon, 2 C Meijer hash browns fried in 2 T evoo (700 calories)

Of course it's breakfast for lunch.  You were expecting a burger?

I would have had avocado and toast instead of hash browns but my avocado was not ripe.  So I ate the rest of the hash browns instead.  Calorie count is rounded down since I splattered a bit of the EVOO and missed with some of the hash browns.  Oops, cooking fail.   At least it was delicious as usual.

Dinner:  Subway 12" ham and provolone sub, all the veggies except spinach, southwest sauce (940 calories)

I was so tired and it was so late by the time dinner rolled around that I abandoned ship on my plan to make tacos.  I got a huge sandwich with lots of veggies.  Calories are from the Subway site, it was probably more than that.  Oh, and I forgot to take a picture.  That's how hungry I was!

Dessert:  ~ 3 T meijer natural crunchy peanut butter (300 calories).

Day Total:  2,165 calories.  A little on the high side, but not egregiously so.  I just need to not let myself get so hungry.

Exercise:  Nope.  It is going to be a struggle, especially between now and April 15.  Busy.

113.0

One Thing Solved

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Just saying, but I think the breakfast game has been solved.  So good.

Anyway, happy that it's Sunday.  I am tentatively planning on working for a few hours this morning and then taking the afternoon off.  Would like to take the whole day off as a day of rest, but I don't foresee myself being able to get up early for extra hours tomorrow morning.  So let's get them out of the way.

Breakfast:  2 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 3 strips Meijer bacon, 2 C Meijer hash browns fried in 2 T EVOO, 1 small avocado, coffee (800 calories)

Yahtzee.  I mean, how delicious is this?  So good.

All sorts of win.  800 calories is a lot for breakfast, so next time I think I should reduce the hash browns by 1/2 C and go with 2 strips of bacon, that should get it down a bit.  I'll have to load up on salad at dinner.  If I stick to plan I'll be just a hair over for the day, which is acceptable, at least if I chase around some cleaning the house or otherwise 'exercising'.

Lunch:  Last of the leftover chicken pot pie filling (650 calories)

It may not be the prettiest thing, but it sure is tasty!

I think I am becoming a hot sauce junkie.  It is amazing how a few drops can really brighten the flavor of things.  I had it on eggs this morning and again on this stuff.  Yum.

Dinner:  Einkorn/parmesan crust pizza with ham and mushrooms, iceberg salad with homemade ranch (635 calories)

Dinner of champions or something?

Same dinner as yesterday.  I was very conscious to go light on the dressing.  Measured my cheese.  Had a bit less ham, though the result of that was that this meal didn't have as much protein as I would like.  I probably use more sauce than I quote so I need to bump that up.

Day Total:  2,085 calories.  Close enough.  I don't mind a few extras on the weekend.

Exercise:  Nope.  I had some hopes, but it just didn't happen this morning.  My plan to make this more of a day of rest gets a big fat "F" ... exercise is one of those things that went by the boards thanks to work.

111.0

Skilletized

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Happy weekend.  Getting things off on the right foot this morning by having a delicious breakfast, courtesy in part of my new skillet.  One of the better $5 I've spent lately (after coupon and reward points, that's what I spent).  Still pretty sluggish this morning, didn't get 8 hours or anything, but I feel like I slept a lot better.  Was not nearly as tired as yesterday.

Breakfast:  2 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 3 strips CF cajun bacon, 2C Meijer hash browns fried in 2T olive oil, coffee (675 calories)

Big pile o' hash browns, courtesy new skillet

Very tasty of course.  There is just something awesome about eggs and potatoes and bacon.  The new skillet worked quite well, though I do wonder if I should have picked up the 8" size instead of the 10" size.  Hmm.  Maybe I'll keep my eyes open for another great deal and grab that one of these days too.  The 10" kind of begs for more oil, but I thought these turned out great - they were less of a crispy cake than when I do them in the smaller anodized skillet.

I thought about filling that empty space with some avocado, but I figured I had better not get too carried away with the calories so that I can still have planned lunch and dinner stuff.  I would probably feel different and more lenient if I had gotten out for an hour of walking this morning!

Lunch:  Leftover chicken pot pie filling (650 calories)

Stew never looks great, but it is.  Also:  New camera angle!

Why is it that stews are so much better the second day??  It happened again.  This was good yesterday.  Today I devoured it.  A bit of added salt and pepper helped, but still, it was the 2nd day effect.  And one more to eat tomorrow!  Yay!  Oh, and I definitely ate a bit more than 1/3 of the recipe yesterday.  Oh well.

Dinner:  Einkorn/parmesan crust pizza with ham and mushrooms, romaine salad with homemade ranch dressing (625 calories)

Wait, what, this isn't Friday night!

Ohh yes.  So very good.  Went with romaine, pickle and (lol) El Pato jalapeno salsa.  I didn't read the label, the tomato was pureed, so it was closer to a sauce.  Oh, well, who cares.  That plus the homemade dressing was yum.  Curiously, I actually wanted more lettuce!  On the pizza front, went with a couple of leftover slices of deli ham instead of opening the pepperoni.  I feel all responsible and stuff.

I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to look like a carbon copy of today!  Also, I need to get batteries for my kitchen scale and next time I make ranch I am determined to come up with a recipe and accurate nutrition information!

Day total:  1,950 calories.  Bullseye.  A little different to eat three equally weighted meals instead of one small and two bigger meals, but that's the weekend for you.

Exercise:  Nope.  Worked all day, so no exercise.  Boo.

109.6

Ohh Yes Friday

Friday, March 14, 2014

So glad it's Friday.  Even though I plan and need to work tomorrow.  Just the idea of being able to go at my own pace tomorrow, to sleep in if I need it, is so enticing.  One of these days I'll fix things and get my exercise on but judging from how rough today was it won't be tomorrow.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, 1 large McDonalds coffee, black (185 calories)

The usual, just out of order and at a strange late time.

Lunch:  Subway 6" ham on jalapeno cheddar with provolone cheese, all the veggies except spinach, southwest sauce (500 calories)

With any item like this, calories are necessarily an estimate.
At least they have a calculator so I have an idea!

According to the Subway site this calculates to 470 calories, I'm rounding up slightly in case I got extra sauce or something.  It wasn't bad.

Snack:  Small gas station popcorn, popped in peanut oil (400 calories)

Hard to get any kind of meaningful visual here.

Kind of a guess here.  Okay, no kind of.  It's a total guess.  Stupid impulse purchases.

Dinner:  Homemade chicken pot pie filling, 2 slices of sourdough toast with butter (920 calories)

Where is the crust you say?  THERE IS NO CRUST.

Chicken pot pie recipe, more or less, from a site called Simply Scratch.  The rest of the chicken from the rotisserie bird I bought yesterday, carrot, onion, celery, a potato, frozen peas, chicken stock, milk, flour and spices.  Quite good, but like stew I expect it to be better tomorrow.  It needed more salt.  But I am now happily stuffed.  I don't know that I really needed the bread, but I knew that I had the calories available and it sounded like an acceptable shortcut.  Too tired to do what I thought I would try, which was einkorn biscuits.  Maybe another time.

Day total:  2,005 calories.  Bingo.  I'm guessing that I might have had a bit more than that, since I think I ate more 1/3 of the chicken recipe, but I'm not going to sweat it, since I *did* accurate calculate the calories for the entire dish ... at least as accurately as I could considering my scale died (dead battery) in the middle of cooking!  The only things that didn't get measured specifically were the potato and onion.  So it should be very close.

Exercise:  Nope.  Super tired this morning and tired late.  Long day at work.

109.6

More Bounce

Thursday, March 13, 2014

I noticed this morning when I stepped on the scale that it varied more than usual.  About a 5 pound range!  That seems kind of excessive, particularly when I thought I was being quite still.  It doesn't matter, of course.  I just like to have an idea of where I am and am trying not to get caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations.  Actually, if this were a competition I would probably have official weekly weigh ins, but since it's just me, no reason I can see to bother.

Anyway, glad it is Thursday and the week rolls on.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee (185 calories).  The usual.  Maybe I won't post the stock photo each and every day, kinda seems like a waste really.

Lunch:  2 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 4 slices CF cajun bacon, medium avocado, 1 slice sourdough toast with butter. (635 calories)

As usual, breakfast for lunch was delicious.

Doing better with measurements!  I checked out the peeled avocado, it was 86g or just over 3 oz.  A lot fewer than 300 calories.  I also again carefully measured the butter - I think that's a habit I am going to get into since I always use the sticks with convenient line markings anyway.  Oh, and one other thought - the sourdough gets such a delightful chew when I let it sit for a couple minutes after I toast and butter it.  It's really good.

Dinner: 6 oz Meijer store roasted chicken, 2 oz Sara Lee smoked deli ham, 1.7 oz Meijer deli swiss cheese, 2 Claussen pickle halves (600 calories)

Not pictured:  Pickle.

Ugh.  I didn't get home until 7:00 and by then I was hungry.  I had planned to make chicken pot pie filling for dinner tonight and chicken cordon bleu but I ended up just eating whatever could be put on the table in 30 seconds, which was quasi cordon bleu (hah).  It did the job.

Dessert:  Slice sourdough toast w/ Meijer natural crunchy peanut butter (265 calories)

Day Total:  1,685 calories.  Um, that isn't enough!  But it's almost 8:00 and I have to fast for 12 hours now.

Exercise:  Nope.  Walked around the grocery store for an hour but not with purpose.

111.4

Feeling Not Seeing

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

I don't really trust the scale at this point and it's not all that meaningful anyway.  It bounces up and down and depends so much on what I've done in a short window beforehand.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that it is useless, but I'm not putting a lot of stock in it at this point.  I do note that I feel a bit lighter, a bit better.  Not hugely so - which is to be expected, it hasn't been long at all and I haven't kicked in any exercise - but it is there.  I don't know that I really see it, but I *never* see it.  It takes radical shifts in weight for me to see it.  I am just happy to feel it and to feel the clothes fitting looser etc.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee.  (185 calories)

How about a stock photo?  Here you go.

Not much to say, other than I like how a smaller calorie breakfast leaves a little extra room in the budget at lunch and dinner.  I'd be better off probably eating small dinner, but the fact of the matter is that I am hungry in the evening and not so much in the morning.  So for now this works.

Lunch:  Western omelet, 2 slices sourdough toast with butter, coffee, small slice of pie (1,200 calories)

Not very smooth, my picture taking in restaurants.

ZOMG PIE

Decided to change up my omelet game and was glad I did.  This was a very good western.  Toast was good and, oh.  Yeah.  PIE.  Some kind of ice cream pie.

The pie was an unexpected treat, not something I ordered.  It was very good, though of course it had sugar (lots of sugar) and some calories.  As if estimating wasn't already hard enough!  I guessed about 400 calories which might be high since it really wasn't a very big piece at all, but I'd rather be high I think.

Dinner:  Leftover beef soft tacos (775 calories)

Is this looking very familiar to you?  It should be.

Bonus action shot!  Complete with hot sauce aim FAIL !

Same as yesterday, except romaine instead of iceberg lettuce.  Delicious either way.  Oh, and no jalapeno either.  It's hot enough but still, I like jalapenos.

Day Total:  2,160.  I think.  Math is hard.  Or I'm just lazy.  Anyway, pretty close.  Stupid pie.

Exercise:  Nope.  I might hit the grocery store though which would help.

110.6

Waste Weight

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Yeah, um, well.  Never mind.

Super, super tired this morning.  Was surprised when alarm went off, then still needed more time.  The rare day where I probably could have slept until 10:00 or even 11:00!  I need to get adjusted.

Breakfast:  2 slices sharp cheddar, coffee.  The usual.  Now with 100% more stock photo! (185 calories)

There just isn't any way to make this look impressive...

It does the job.

Lunch:  2 CF eggs fried in a bit of butter, 4 strips CF cajun bacon, 1/2 medium underripe avocado, "2" slices sourdough toast with butter (675 calories)

This is not a repeat of yesterday's photo.  It is a repeat of the meal.

Yum, again.  I carefully measured out 1T of butter and divided it between frying the eggs and the toast.  That wasn't so difficult.  The avocado was quite under ripe, so if I get sick in the next couple hours, that's probably why.  Maybe I should look up if this a bad thing.

Dinner:  Beef soft tacos (800 calories)

That plate didn't stay clean for long let me tell you

All sorts of yum.  I was hungry and knew that I had calories to play with, so I went with a full 1/2 lb (before cooking) ground beef.  Compromised and had 5 tortillas.  Plus iceberg, jalapeno, salsa and hot sauce.  Yeah, it had some heat!  And I have leftovers for tomorrow!  Yay!

That calories count seems kind of low, but it's what I come up with -- 400 for the beef, 250 for the tortillas, 100 for the sour cream and 50 for the veg and sauce (all numbers rounded of course).  Maybe I'll look for additional confirmation on the beef calories -- I'm just using the entry for Whole Foods 90/10 grassfed beef.

Dessert:  2T Meijer crunchy natural peanut butter.  Why not.  (200 calories)

Day Total:  1,860.  Wow.  Now THAT is a number I like.  And I never felt deprived.  Awesome.

Exercise:  Nope.  Need to get on that.

113.6