Week 5 - Official Weigh-in (post-diet week)
Previous weight: 378.0
Current weight: 372.3
+/-: -5.7 lbs
Total weight-loss to date: 26.0 lbs
Well, not the best week I've had, but not the worst either. And with a little bit of luck and some nicer weather on the horizon, it's going to get better from here on out!
Thanks again for reading along everyone. This week we passed 1000 visits to the blog, which is a pretty good milestone. States of Oregon and Washington, respectively, are leading the charge in readership, and the blog is now being read in 7 countries.
I appreciate your support everyone. Keep it up!
Cheers!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Day Seven - May 27th, 2011
Well the end of the diet week has been reached, and tomorrow is the weigh-in. Hopefully I made a good push!
Today was kind of a crazy day. Went in to the office and was there for a couple hours before the boss decided it was time to leave early for the weekend. After that I helped him putz around in the garage for a bit while he built some wooden frames for planter boxes. Then I went home, and relaxed before having to cover a shift at Smokey's.
I was feeling really hungry when I got to work last night, and luckily it was slow enough that I was able to eat 3 bowls worth of soup early on. That helped to tide me over until I was off work, which was at 10:30. I had brought my box of brown rice to work knowing I'd be there late, and so I cooked that in the microwave while I steamed some veggies in the oven (or kinda combination simmered-baked-steamed them). Put it in a to-go container and brought it home where I had my sauces. A third with sweet chili sauce, a third with teriyaki, and a third with teriyaki mixed with the Sriracha sauce. It was delicious. Ate it while I watched the movie RED.
All in all, I'd say it was a good week. I did forget to eat my mint milano's though :( So I guess I'll have them tomorrow.
Thanks again for reading! The weigh-in is in the morning!
Today was kind of a crazy day. Went in to the office and was there for a couple hours before the boss decided it was time to leave early for the weekend. After that I helped him putz around in the garage for a bit while he built some wooden frames for planter boxes. Then I went home, and relaxed before having to cover a shift at Smokey's.
I was feeling really hungry when I got to work last night, and luckily it was slow enough that I was able to eat 3 bowls worth of soup early on. That helped to tide me over until I was off work, which was at 10:30. I had brought my box of brown rice to work knowing I'd be there late, and so I cooked that in the microwave while I steamed some veggies in the oven (or kinda combination simmered-baked-steamed them). Put it in a to-go container and brought it home where I had my sauces. A third with sweet chili sauce, a third with teriyaki, and a third with teriyaki mixed with the Sriracha sauce. It was delicious. Ate it while I watched the movie RED.
All in all, I'd say it was a good week. I did forget to eat my mint milano's though :( So I guess I'll have them tomorrow.
Thanks again for reading! The weigh-in is in the morning!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Day Six - May 26th, 2011
Well, today was yet another day closer to being skinny, and it felt good.
Meat and veggie day, my 2nd favorite day of the diet week. And it was a great one. I was off to the office this morning and enjoyed a nice lunch of chicken with some "special sauce" and a bit of spicy teriyaki plus a bunch of steamed veggies. It was extremely tasty. I've figured that by upping the temperature of the food with hot sauces it will help fuel my metabolism and help kick this diet into overdrive. Will it reflect in the final standings? We'll see.
After work and school, I stopped off to buy food for dinner. I had a couple bratwursts while dinner thawed and flavored, and carmelized some onions to go along with them. Top them off with a bit of sweet hot mustard and they were quite yummy. No buns, of course! I paired this with a small chicken Caesar salad, no croutons and light dressing.
For dinner, I had a chicken breast that marinated in Worcesterchire sauce, a spritz of olive oil, some minced garlic, and a couple sprigs of fresh-cut rosemary from my parent's house. They marinated vacuum-sealed for about 3 hours, and then I baked the chicken with the rosemary sprigs on top for about a half hour. Just the right amount of time too. I made two just in case I was still hungry, but I'm still full and so I'm saving the second for lunch on Saturday. Paired with some corn with a bit of butter and some salt and pepper, and it was a great meal. One bowl of soup to follow that all up just before bed, and the day is complete.
I watched a movie while eating dinner tonight, and it actually helped pull me through some low times I've been going through as of late in my personal life. I can honestly say that I'm feeling more whole and at peace with myself than I have for a long time. Kind of weird that this movie sort of parallels my life, not exactly, but close enough that it resonated inside me. Wow.
Anywho, Day Five meal costs:
Meat and veggie day, my 2nd favorite day of the diet week. And it was a great one. I was off to the office this morning and enjoyed a nice lunch of chicken with some "special sauce" and a bit of spicy teriyaki plus a bunch of steamed veggies. It was extremely tasty. I've figured that by upping the temperature of the food with hot sauces it will help fuel my metabolism and help kick this diet into overdrive. Will it reflect in the final standings? We'll see.
After work and school, I stopped off to buy food for dinner. I had a couple bratwursts while dinner thawed and flavored, and carmelized some onions to go along with them. Top them off with a bit of sweet hot mustard and they were quite yummy. No buns, of course! I paired this with a small chicken Caesar salad, no croutons and light dressing.
For dinner, I had a chicken breast that marinated in Worcesterchire sauce, a spritz of olive oil, some minced garlic, and a couple sprigs of fresh-cut rosemary from my parent's house. They marinated vacuum-sealed for about 3 hours, and then I baked the chicken with the rosemary sprigs on top for about a half hour. Just the right amount of time too. I made two just in case I was still hungry, but I'm still full and so I'm saving the second for lunch on Saturday. Paired with some corn with a bit of butter and some salt and pepper, and it was a great meal. One bowl of soup to follow that all up just before bed, and the day is complete.
I watched a movie while eating dinner tonight, and it actually helped pull me through some low times I've been going through as of late in my personal life. I can honestly say that I'm feeling more whole and at peace with myself than I have for a long time. Kind of weird that this movie sort of parallels my life, not exactly, but close enough that it resonated inside me. Wow.
Anywho, Day Five meal costs:
- Chicken and Veggie bowl: Bought by my dad (how generous of him!)
- Bratwurst: 5 for $2.98, ate two for a total of: $1.19
- Onion, small white: $0.38
- Romaine Lettuce for salad: Free from my other work
- Chicken breasts: $4.98 for 5, ate two for a total of: $1.99
- Corn: one can @ $0.58
Things like Worcesterchire sauce, the butter for the corn, the garlic, and the dressing were all things already purchased previously and so the costs aren't factored in.
Grand total of Day Five meals: $4.14
Everything was fantastic, and I'm ready to get a great night's sleep. I honestly believe it will be the best I've had in some time.
Cheers, and thanks for reading!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Day Five - May 25th, 2011
Yesterday (Wednesday, day 5) was a long day, so this is coming a bit late as I felt sleep was better.
Day started off with a screening for my best friend's sister to see if I qualified for a free dental cleaning for her final exams. While I haven't had a cleaning in 8+ years, apparently I didn't have enough of the right kind of tartar in order to qualify. I was told later that even people who have gone more than 20 yrs didn't qualify, so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad. Afterwards I stopped by Fred Meyer on my way to work and picked up some grape and cherry tomatoes for lunch.
Those didn't last past 1:30pm though, and I was still hungry. However, because of my day's schedule I wasn't really going to be able to eat until the end of the night, and so dealt accordingly.
After work I went to the Portland Timbers/AFC Ajax match. I was originally supposed to go with my cousin for her birthday, but she fell ill and I was left with a spare ticket. I managed to sell my spare ticket on the shuttle bus for what I paid for it, but sometime between then and the end of the night I lost the cash, so all-in-all I spent exactly what I intended to spend on the night. The match was fun, even though we lost 2-0, and I met up with some of my new friends afterwards. As I was incredibly hungry, I stopped at one of the Timbers Army-affiliated food carts outside the stadium and bought 3 carne asada (steak) tacos, and ate the meat (slathered in the hot sauces) minus the tortillas. All told it was probably about 4oz of meat.
Once I got home I heated up the oven on broil and prepared my steak for broiling. After about ten minutes I stuck the steak in and broiled it for 9 minutes. Perfectly cooked. This was a top sirloin I bought at Whole Foods, since it was on special. It was a little more spendy, but I figured I'd give it a shot, and it was good, but probably not worth the extra $1.50/lb that I could have bought it for elsewhere. One benefit is that they season it at no extra charge, and so they seasoned it liberally with garlic & herb and rosemary garlic seasoning, and then on the top I sprinkled some of the Garlic Gourmay Killer Cajun seasoning. Mmmm, delicious. And people wonder why this is my favorite day of the diet week!
I finished the night with the minimum one bowl of soup, and headed off to bed.
Cost of Day Five meals:
This ends up being one of the more expensive meals of the week, but for good reason: Steak is delicious and worth the cost for a good one.
Thanks again for reading everyone, and for your support!
Cheers!
Day started off with a screening for my best friend's sister to see if I qualified for a free dental cleaning for her final exams. While I haven't had a cleaning in 8+ years, apparently I didn't have enough of the right kind of tartar in order to qualify. I was told later that even people who have gone more than 20 yrs didn't qualify, so I guess I shouldn't feel so bad. Afterwards I stopped by Fred Meyer on my way to work and picked up some grape and cherry tomatoes for lunch.
Those didn't last past 1:30pm though, and I was still hungry. However, because of my day's schedule I wasn't really going to be able to eat until the end of the night, and so dealt accordingly.
After work I went to the Portland Timbers/AFC Ajax match. I was originally supposed to go with my cousin for her birthday, but she fell ill and I was left with a spare ticket. I managed to sell my spare ticket on the shuttle bus for what I paid for it, but sometime between then and the end of the night I lost the cash, so all-in-all I spent exactly what I intended to spend on the night. The match was fun, even though we lost 2-0, and I met up with some of my new friends afterwards. As I was incredibly hungry, I stopped at one of the Timbers Army-affiliated food carts outside the stadium and bought 3 carne asada (steak) tacos, and ate the meat (slathered in the hot sauces) minus the tortillas. All told it was probably about 4oz of meat.
Once I got home I heated up the oven on broil and prepared my steak for broiling. After about ten minutes I stuck the steak in and broiled it for 9 minutes. Perfectly cooked. This was a top sirloin I bought at Whole Foods, since it was on special. It was a little more spendy, but I figured I'd give it a shot, and it was good, but probably not worth the extra $1.50/lb that I could have bought it for elsewhere. One benefit is that they season it at no extra charge, and so they seasoned it liberally with garlic & herb and rosemary garlic seasoning, and then on the top I sprinkled some of the Garlic Gourmay Killer Cajun seasoning. Mmmm, delicious. And people wonder why this is my favorite day of the diet week!
I finished the night with the minimum one bowl of soup, and headed off to bed.
Cost of Day Five meals:
- Cherry & Grape tomatoes: $2.99/ea for $5.98
- Carne Asada tacos: $1.25/ea -$0.25 discount for $3.50
- Top sirloin steak: $9.03
This ends up being one of the more expensive meals of the week, but for good reason: Steak is delicious and worth the cost for a good one.
Thanks again for reading everyone, and for your support!
Cheers!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Days Three and Four: May 23rd and 24th, 2011
Well, I was a bit worn out last night to post Day Three at my regular interval, so here's both days combined!
Monday was a pretty easy day. I didn't really feel hungry til around 4pm, and so when I was about to leave on some errands I put my remaining asparagus in a big Zip-lock to marinade with some teriyaki and garlic. They ended up marinating for about 3 hours by the time I cooked them. I also had a double Gardenburger wrapped in lettuce. I figured I needed some extra fuel, and since the patties are only 100 calories each I could probably get by, considering I didn't have anything earlier.
I ended up cooking all that plus eating my 3 bowls of soup while I sat with my friend Joe before we went off to his softball games. He played the late ones and then he wanted to have some beer with his teammates afterwards, and since I offered to drive him I was kinda stuck. Luckily the bar supplied me with all the coffee I could drink! After dropping him off at home I hit up Winco for some bananas and skim milk for the next day.
Today I woke up and headed off to work. I polished off a bunch and a half of bananas and about a third of a half gallon of the skim milk while I was at the office. I ended up leaving my milk in the mini-fridge accidentally, so I've been kinda thirsty but don't wanna drive across town to pick it up. After class tonight I finished the 2nd bunch of bananas, and I only have a few left. I am about to eat my soup as well. Oh, and when I met up with a friend to pick up my cousin's birthday present tonight we met at Starbucks, and I bought a Venti (fancy Seattle word for "Large") tea.
I have my steak seasoning in the fridge for tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that! I still need my tomatoes tho; since I have an appointment before work tomorrow, I can stop on the way to the office to get some. I'll have to go fresh since there's no can opener!
So for Monday's meals, I had:
Monday was a pretty easy day. I didn't really feel hungry til around 4pm, and so when I was about to leave on some errands I put my remaining asparagus in a big Zip-lock to marinade with some teriyaki and garlic. They ended up marinating for about 3 hours by the time I cooked them. I also had a double Gardenburger wrapped in lettuce. I figured I needed some extra fuel, and since the patties are only 100 calories each I could probably get by, considering I didn't have anything earlier.
I ended up cooking all that plus eating my 3 bowls of soup while I sat with my friend Joe before we went off to his softball games. He played the late ones and then he wanted to have some beer with his teammates afterwards, and since I offered to drive him I was kinda stuck. Luckily the bar supplied me with all the coffee I could drink! After dropping him off at home I hit up Winco for some bananas and skim milk for the next day.
Today I woke up and headed off to work. I polished off a bunch and a half of bananas and about a third of a half gallon of the skim milk while I was at the office. I ended up leaving my milk in the mini-fridge accidentally, so I've been kinda thirsty but don't wanna drive across town to pick it up. After class tonight I finished the 2nd bunch of bananas, and I only have a few left. I am about to eat my soup as well. Oh, and when I met up with a friend to pick up my cousin's birthday present tonight we met at Starbucks, and I bought a Venti (fancy Seattle word for "Large") tea.
I have my steak seasoning in the fridge for tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that! I still need my tomatoes tho; since I have an appointment before work tomorrow, I can stop on the way to the office to get some. I'll have to go fresh since there's no can opener!
So for Monday's meals, I had:
- 1/2 bunch of asparagus, cost: $2.10
- 2 Gardenburger patties, cost: $1.50
Total Monday (Day 3) meal costs: $3.60
For today's meals, it is:
- Bananas: $4.22
- Skim milk: $1.68 (I'm never gonna drink the rest before it spoils so it goes down as totally used)
- Tea @ Starbucks: $2.65
Total Day 4 meal costs: $8.55
Thanks for reading, and sorry about not getting yesterday's entry up in a timely matter, but hopefully you'll forgive me for being tired and needing to go to bed.
Cheers!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Day Two: May 23rd, 2011
Ah, I love the smell of weight loss in the morning...
I woke up fairly early, but wasn't hungry at all. So I toyed around for a bit, and eventually I was hungry enough to have a fairly large bowl of soup, with some salt, pepper and some Sriracha sauce added to it. Mmm, spicy and good.
That held me over until my break at work. It's baked potato day, and I had just that with a little bit of garlic butter and some chopped green onions. I paired that with a Gardenburger wrapped with lettuce with a little bit of ketchup, mustard, and some more lettuce and a couple slices of tomato and a half bunch of asparagus marinated in Italian dressing and grilled/baked. Delicious, nutritious, and filling. Made pretty much everyone at work jealous, at least the asparagus did.
I'm home now, and about to heat up some more soup. I want to try and get 3 bowls in total for today.
Also, something I said I was going to start doing the last go-around I am actually going to follow up on, and I'll have to back-edit yesterday's entry to do so as well, as I don't have the receipt in front of me.
The cost of today's eating, non-soup, was:
I woke up fairly early, but wasn't hungry at all. So I toyed around for a bit, and eventually I was hungry enough to have a fairly large bowl of soup, with some salt, pepper and some Sriracha sauce added to it. Mmm, spicy and good.
That held me over until my break at work. It's baked potato day, and I had just that with a little bit of garlic butter and some chopped green onions. I paired that with a Gardenburger wrapped with lettuce with a little bit of ketchup, mustard, and some more lettuce and a couple slices of tomato and a half bunch of asparagus marinated in Italian dressing and grilled/baked. Delicious, nutritious, and filling. Made pretty much everyone at work jealous, at least the asparagus did.
I'm home now, and about to heat up some more soup. I want to try and get 3 bowls in total for today.
Also, something I said I was going to start doing the last go-around I am actually going to follow up on, and I'll have to back-edit yesterday's entry to do so as well, as I don't have the receipt in front of me.
The cost of today's eating, non-soup, was:
- Gardenburger: $2.99 for 4/ $0.75/ea @ Safeway
- Asparagus: 1.05 lb @ $3.99 lb for a total of $4.19, 1/2 bunch = approx. $2.10 @ Safeway
- Potato: Free from work.
Total cost of food for the day (w/out soup): $2.85
I probably would have spent less on the asparagus if I'd have bought it when I bought my soup ingredients but oh well...
Thanks for reading!
Cheers!
Day One - May 21st, 2011
Well, today was kinda disappointing because of all this Rapture ballywho, and yet here we all are. Guess you can't believe everything some religious nut says, right?
Well, it took longer than I thought to get my stockpot clean, so I ended up waking up early and making the soup today. On the bright side, I got to eat some of it while it was still freshly warm, and not reheated.
I ate probably 4 bowls of soup today, along with 4 Braeburn apples. I just wasn't all that hungry today, so I ate when I was.
Also, I want to give a shoutout to Gateway Produce on the corner of Andresen Rd and 25th st. They have some of the best prices for fresh veggies and fruit out there, and the quality is good. Talked with the owner when I bought my veggies and he explained that they have to beat retail store prices in order to stay in business, and that they also get to reject deliveries if the quality isn't up to scratch. And from what I've seen and used, they're doing a great job, and the soup and my other fruit/veggie-based meals are all much better for it.
Soup costs for the week:
Thanks for reading!
Well, it took longer than I thought to get my stockpot clean, so I ended up waking up early and making the soup today. On the bright side, I got to eat some of it while it was still freshly warm, and not reheated.
I ate probably 4 bowls of soup today, along with 4 Braeburn apples. I just wasn't all that hungry today, so I ate when I was.
Also, I want to give a shoutout to Gateway Produce on the corner of Andresen Rd and 25th st. They have some of the best prices for fresh veggies and fruit out there, and the quality is good. Talked with the owner when I bought my veggies and he explained that they have to beat retail store prices in order to stay in business, and that they also get to reject deliveries if the quality isn't up to scratch. And from what I've seen and used, they're doing a great job, and the soup and my other fruit/veggie-based meals are all much better for it.
Soup costs for the week:
- Carrots: 2 lb bag for $1.69
- Celery: 1 bunch for $1.61 ($0.88/lb)
- Green Onion: 1 bunch for $0.50 (2 for $1)
- Green Pepper: 3 for $0.99 (Recipe calls for 2 but these were kind of undersized so I used 3)
- Green Beans, canned: 2 cans for $1.16 ($0.58 each)
- Diced Tomatoes: 2 cans for $1.16 ($0.58 each)
The other ingredients, the veggie soup mix paste and beef bouillon (substituted for the broth), were purchased in advance in volume and since I've since lost the receipt I don't remember the cost, I can't factor that in to the soup cost at this time.
Total Soup cost: $7.11 for the week, and for 7 days, that breaks down to $1.02/day ($1.0158 if you want to be exact)
Day One meal costs:
- 4 Braeburn apples for $2.12 ($0.89/lb)
Thanks for reading!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Week 5 - Official Weigh-in (pre-diet week)
Previous weight: 376.6
Current weight: 378.0
+/-: +1.4 lbs
Well, I feel awful about having to put this off for so long but unfortunately making my ends meet is a bit more important than my diet.
I'm not terribly surprised that there was some gain, but at the same time I'm happy that it was less than two pounds. At one point during the last near-month I weighed in at just over 372, but I knew that was too good to last.
This is going to be my last pure diet week. I am going to start my workout program up full-force during the next cycle, which means to help aid in building the muscle needed to burn extra fat I am going to be adding a lot of chicken into my diet. Baked chicken, either plain or seasoned, but not fried.
Well, here goes!
Current weight: 378.0
+/-: +1.4 lbs
Well, I feel awful about having to put this off for so long but unfortunately making my ends meet is a bit more important than my diet.
I'm not terribly surprised that there was some gain, but at the same time I'm happy that it was less than two pounds. At one point during the last near-month I weighed in at just over 372, but I knew that was too good to last.
This is going to be my last pure diet week. I am going to start my workout program up full-force during the next cycle, which means to help aid in building the muscle needed to burn extra fat I am going to be adding a lot of chicken into my diet. Baked chicken, either plain or seasoned, but not fried.
Well, here goes!
Friday, May 20, 2011
Off-time update - May 20th, 2011
Good news, Tomorrow is Day One of the new diet week.
It would have been yesterday, but I forgot about an all-day catered event I was taking part in, and after an extremely long day I didn't feel up to making soup. So I bought all the things I needed today after work and once the stock pot is finished in the dishwasher it's soup time!
With all this talk about the Rapture coming tomorrow, I debated waiting to see if it was worth spending the money, but I decided what the heck, if tomorrow isn't the Rapture, then I'm going to be set for the next diet week.
Well, weigh-in is in the morning! Make sure to check in and see where I'm at!
It would have been yesterday, but I forgot about an all-day catered event I was taking part in, and after an extremely long day I didn't feel up to making soup. So I bought all the things I needed today after work and once the stock pot is finished in the dishwasher it's soup time!
With all this talk about the Rapture coming tomorrow, I debated waiting to see if it was worth spending the money, but I decided what the heck, if tomorrow isn't the Rapture, then I'm going to be set for the next diet week.
Well, weigh-in is in the morning! Make sure to check in and see where I'm at!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Off-time upate: May 11th, 2011
Well, this has been long overdue...
It's been nearly two weeks since the last day of the most recent diet week. I have been horrible about this, but I've been incredibly busy as well and just crashing when I go to bed. Forgive the unattentiveness of the posting of late.
So due to events that would interfere with the diet week, and then a delay in tax return arrival, I will be resuming the diet next week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the meanwhile, weight has been fluctuating from the last weigh in up to 382 and back again. It's kind of annoying. I can go a day with all healthy foods and it says I'm up 6 lbs and then eat a cheeseburger and have it drop four. I have been eating fairly healthy, with breakfast several times over the last two weeks and as many non-fried foods as possible. Avoiding pizza as much as possible as well, despite how good it is. I've had quite a bit of baked chicken/turkey as well. Lean protein is good, after all.
I hope this is a good enough update for you. I'll try and do more as I lead up to the start of Week 5.
Cheers!
It's been nearly two weeks since the last day of the most recent diet week. I have been horrible about this, but I've been incredibly busy as well and just crashing when I go to bed. Forgive the unattentiveness of the posting of late.
So due to events that would interfere with the diet week, and then a delay in tax return arrival, I will be resuming the diet next week, probably Tuesday or Wednesday.
In the meanwhile, weight has been fluctuating from the last weigh in up to 382 and back again. It's kind of annoying. I can go a day with all healthy foods and it says I'm up 6 lbs and then eat a cheeseburger and have it drop four. I have been eating fairly healthy, with breakfast several times over the last two weeks and as many non-fried foods as possible. Avoiding pizza as much as possible as well, despite how good it is. I've had quite a bit of baked chicken/turkey as well. Lean protein is good, after all.
I hope this is a good enough update for you. I'll try and do more as I lead up to the start of Week 5.
Cheers!
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