I was going to blog tonight. In fact, I blogged for about 20 minutes in front of the TV before my Windows laptop decided to eat my effort again. Did I learn from the last time? No. I tried to simplify the task - just blog, open another tab to get the caloric content of food right. That's it. No pictures, no multiple tabs, no unknown websites. Nothing. And what happens? Lockup and crash. It's my work laptop, so it relatively current on patches, etc. so why does it crash? Because Windows is horrible, that's why.
If you are ever faced with the option, and you don't buy a Mac over a PC, you've made a horrific, regrettable, and awful consumer choice. Plain and simple. No way to sugar coat that.
So no blog tonight. Not at all motivated to recreate that. Maybe tomorrow.
I hate Windows...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Blueberry Pancakes: Does a body good.
Saturday is my day to beat myself up at the gym. With nothing on the schedule for the morning, I could devote all the time I wanted to punishing myself, and I took advantage of it to be sure.
A lot of times during my Saturday self-flagellation, I find myself enervated (due to the fact that I'm slowly starving myself to life). I decided this morning to make sure I had the right amount of fuel, and not be as calorie-conscious at breakfast. That meant a giant batch of the most perfect food ever created was on tap: blueberry pancakes.
Sure, some people may say bacon is the most perfect food ever created, and they're right. And maybe the Luther burger is the most perfect meal ever created. But if you're not being completely obscene, is there anything that makes you feel more righteous than a big stack of blueberry pancakes? I don't think so.
Granted, I didn't go overboard and make myself a stack of about 8 like I wanted to. My breakfast was probably in the 600-700 calorie range, which is entirely reasonable for a big land animal of my size. Given an hour to digest and I was ready to crush it at the gym.
The most remarkable thing about my workout was getting on the elliptical, which I don't hate (unlike the evil Stairmaster). After an hour of weights and abs, I hopped on the elliptical expecting it to suck, and expecting the usual 5-10 minutes of pain before I settled into it. Strangely, it was rather pleasant right off the bat. Not sitting-on-a-private-beach-and-drinking-pina-coladas-next-to-my-wife pleasant, granted, but a decidedly absence-of-suck pleasant. After 20 minutes I found I needed to increase my pace in order to get the exercise I wanted, and I was burning hard for the last five minutes. It was pretty cool to be that strong throughout. War blueberry pancakes!
We later met a friend downtown at the giant Whole Foods which gave me an opportunity to shop there. Found all kinds of awesomeness there, which I then turned into dinner. Whole branzino, which are European sea bass, some interesting french horn mushrooms (which were better looking than tasting, sadly), and some huge cipolini onions were among my finds.
I took the mushrooms and sliced them lengthwise to preserve the shape, and laid them on a cookie sheet. I then diced two of the cipolini and 8 kalamata olives, peeled two bunches of globe carrots, and then coated them all in a tablespoon of oil, salt, and pepper. I put the oil on the onions and carrots as the mushrooms would absorb it and require more oil. I topped the mushrooms with the other stuff, and put a little stock on the bottom of the pan. Roasted in the oven for 20 minutes or until the carrots were tender. About 200 calories per serving, give or take, which I tossed with some pasta (200 more calories per serving) for a healthy side dish.
I took the branzino and scored each side on a bias, and put onto a sheet of parchment on a cookie sheet. I then diced half a cipolini, 8 more kalamata olives, a handful of Italian parsley, and 1/8 cup roasted tomatoes, and a diced serrano pepper, all of which I tossed in a tablespoon of oil and salt and pepper. I then rubbed the mix on the fish, into the slits and cavity especially, and then put a small pool of stock on the bottom and sealed up the parchment by working my way around the edges until it was completely pinched shut. Roast at 350 for 15 minutes and it is perfect. About 270-300 calories per serving.
Egyptology
I tried to get this out twice last night, and twice my browser crashed destroying all my work. Teaches me to use the Windows laptop instead of the Mac. Pro tip: go buy a Mac.
On Thursday's run I got a weird feeling in my gut. Not the euphemistic weird feeling of impending doom, but a genuinely strange feeling right in the flabby part of my gut. As it wasn't anything serious, I will now offer conjecture as to what it was.
Tutankhamun's tomb was meticulously and painstakingly built, and packed with treasures from the day. After his burial in the tomb, I'm sure people knew where it was, and it was heavily guarded to protect the treasures. Then Egypt fell, and the tomb became lost to the ages, buried deep in the desert sands.
3000 years or so later Howard Carter stumbled upon the tomb. I'm sure excavation of the tomb was difficult as 3000 years of sand needed to be moved, and 3000 years didn't exactly make any of the entrances easier to penetrate. Plus, it is a little spooky opening those things. Certainly not easy by any means.
This is what I imagined was happening to my gut. Fat treasures stored decades ago are now being recalled, and my body has to open all the rusty doors to them long since considered permanently closed. My body has to re-learn where it hid all that fat, like derelict squirrels finding their nuts from the fall.
I took it as a good sign.
Last night for dinner I played with my Indian spices. Sadly, I was out of fresh curry leaves and had to make do with the powder. Recipe approximation is as follows:
Cardimom Quinoa
1/2 cup quinoa (310 calories)
1 cup stock
1 tbsp chili paste
1/2 tbsp sessame oil (60 calories)
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (60 calories)
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardimom
toast the quinoa lightly in the oil, add everything else, mix thoroughly and let simmer on low until done, half an hour or so. 220 or so calories per serving, serves 2
Kale "Paneer"
A healthy take on Saag Paneer, using kale instead of spinach or mustard greens.
2 cups dinosaur kale (1 bunch), cut into ribbons (70 calories)
1/2 tbsp sessame oil (60 calories)
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (60 calories)
1/4 cup stock/water
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 5.3oz container plain non-fat greek yogurt (80 calories)
dash soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder
Lightly sautee the garlic and ginger in the oil on med-high heat, and then add the kale before anything burns. Toss to coat and then add liquid, cook uncovered until most of the liquid is reduced. Add the yogurt to the pan with soy sauce and curry. A good Greek yogurt will curdle almost immediately, leaving curds of "paneer". Drain off the liquid once fully curdled. 135 calories per serving, serves 2.
Chicken with Mint and Garlic
A mint and garlic rub makes a great coating for chicken, and adding a touch of curry leaves a very nice Indian-style taste.
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 220 calories each for half pound breasts)
2 tbsp minced mint
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp sesame oil (60 calories) - can omit if you grill
1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional for added heat)
2 tsp curry powder
salt to taste
Heat oil in non-stick pan. Rub the chicken breasts with all the spices and pan sear (not too hot - don't want the mint to burn) or grill until done. 220-250 calories per serving, serves 2.
On Thursday's run I got a weird feeling in my gut. Not the euphemistic weird feeling of impending doom, but a genuinely strange feeling right in the flabby part of my gut. As it wasn't anything serious, I will now offer conjecture as to what it was.
Tutankhamun's tomb was meticulously and painstakingly built, and packed with treasures from the day. After his burial in the tomb, I'm sure people knew where it was, and it was heavily guarded to protect the treasures. Then Egypt fell, and the tomb became lost to the ages, buried deep in the desert sands.
3000 years or so later Howard Carter stumbled upon the tomb. I'm sure excavation of the tomb was difficult as 3000 years of sand needed to be moved, and 3000 years didn't exactly make any of the entrances easier to penetrate. Plus, it is a little spooky opening those things. Certainly not easy by any means.
This is what I imagined was happening to my gut. Fat treasures stored decades ago are now being recalled, and my body has to open all the rusty doors to them long since considered permanently closed. My body has to re-learn where it hid all that fat, like derelict squirrels finding their nuts from the fall.
I took it as a good sign.
Last night for dinner I played with my Indian spices. Sadly, I was out of fresh curry leaves and had to make do with the powder. Recipe approximation is as follows:
Cardimom Quinoa
1/2 cup quinoa (310 calories)
1 cup stock
1 tbsp chili paste
1/2 tbsp sessame oil (60 calories)
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (60 calories)
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp ground cardimom
toast the quinoa lightly in the oil, add everything else, mix thoroughly and let simmer on low until done, half an hour or so. 220 or so calories per serving, serves 2
Kale "Paneer"
A healthy take on Saag Paneer, using kale instead of spinach or mustard greens.
2 cups dinosaur kale (1 bunch), cut into ribbons (70 calories)
1/2 tbsp sessame oil (60 calories)
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil (60 calories)
1/4 cup stock/water
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 5.3oz container plain non-fat greek yogurt (80 calories)
dash soy sauce
2 tsp curry powder
Lightly sautee the garlic and ginger in the oil on med-high heat, and then add the kale before anything burns. Toss to coat and then add liquid, cook uncovered until most of the liquid is reduced. Add the yogurt to the pan with soy sauce and curry. A good Greek yogurt will curdle almost immediately, leaving curds of "paneer". Drain off the liquid once fully curdled. 135 calories per serving, serves 2.
Chicken with Mint and Garlic
A mint and garlic rub makes a great coating for chicken, and adding a touch of curry leaves a very nice Indian-style taste.
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 220 calories each for half pound breasts)
2 tbsp minced mint
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tbsp sesame oil (60 calories) - can omit if you grill
1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional for added heat)
2 tsp curry powder
salt to taste
Heat oil in non-stick pan. Rub the chicken breasts with all the spices and pan sear (not too hot - don't want the mint to burn) or grill until done. 220-250 calories per serving, serves 2.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
5.0, Heroics, and Chili
5.0 was the maximum GPA where I went to school. Kids who would later be known as "successful" achieved GPAs at or near that number, where my GPA was more in the "you want fries with that" range.
I've marked off a number of loops that I run on a consistent basis, one is the 5.0 miler I ran today. The loop starts out innocently enough, with moderate uphills and downhills until I get to mile 2, where I get an awesome 7/10ths of a mile downhill run that makes me feel really fast. Right at that point, which is coincidentally a friend's house, is the time where the run really sucks. I have cleverly named that portion of the run "the time that really sucks" because it is a straight uphill run for at least .8 - 1.0 miles. Brutal.
Today felt good, partially because the sun returned and it was a nice 60 degrees. I worked through lunch, so I made time later in the day, which was awesome because school was getting out then. Which meant there were crossing guards to help the kids cross the street. And these crossing guards for some reason stop traffic so I can get by too. Gave me a feeling of power, kind of. And yeah, the drivers probably got upset at being stopped so my fat slow behind could waddle past, but I'm just doing something our government will never do, namely reducing future healthcare costs, so they should appreciate my efforts.
While running, I figured out a new purpose for this blog: to become a hero. Work with me here for a second. If you save someone's life, you're a hero, right? You give them up to 75 years of life with your heroic actions. While I'm not saving lives, if I inspire 75 people to get in shape and eat better, and each person lives one more year as a result, isn't that the same as giving one person 75 years? I've already heard from at least 5 people I've inspired, so only 70 to go and I'm a certified hero. I'm pretty sure it works like that.
For dinner tonight, I made chili. There are ways to make "chili" with healthy substitutes like turkey, and some of those recipes are pretty good. But I wanted to make real chili, and find a way to make it lighter without sacrificing flavor, and still satisfying. So off I went, and here it is.
Chili:
2-3 pound beef shoulder chuck roast (880 calories per pound net)
1 butternut squash (64 calories per cup, usually yields 4)
2 cans red kidney beans (700 calories)
1 28oz can pureed tomatoes (300 calories)
2 tbsp molasses (120 calories)
1 dark beer (150 calories)
1 large onion (60 calories)
1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)
2 tbsp minced garlic
good amounts of chili powder and cumin, to taste, with salt & pepper
half can of pureed ancho chile in adobo
2 large jalapenos
1 square dark chocolate (70% or greater) (50 calories)
Cube the meat and be sure to eliminate all the obvious fat (I lost a full third of my roast to fat I threw out). Brown in oil in heavy dutch oven, and then add onions and garlic, and fry until soft. Add tomatoes and beer, and water or stock to cover, plus as much chili powder and cumin as you dare. Let boil on low, covered, for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally to deter sticking. Add more liquid as needed, with molasses, finely diced jalapenos, and more spice (yes, you need to keep adding it to build flavor). Let cook for another hour and add chocolate, ancho, and more spice, stirring them in, and then diced squash and liquid as needed, let cook for half an hour and add the beans (no liquid) and finish for 10 minutes. About 3200 calories for the pot, serving 5-6 600 calorie bowls. Serve with a spinach salad, 100 calories if you get crazy with it, for a balanced meal.
I've marked off a number of loops that I run on a consistent basis, one is the 5.0 miler I ran today. The loop starts out innocently enough, with moderate uphills and downhills until I get to mile 2, where I get an awesome 7/10ths of a mile downhill run that makes me feel really fast. Right at that point, which is coincidentally a friend's house, is the time where the run really sucks. I have cleverly named that portion of the run "the time that really sucks" because it is a straight uphill run for at least .8 - 1.0 miles. Brutal.
Today felt good, partially because the sun returned and it was a nice 60 degrees. I worked through lunch, so I made time later in the day, which was awesome because school was getting out then. Which meant there were crossing guards to help the kids cross the street. And these crossing guards for some reason stop traffic so I can get by too. Gave me a feeling of power, kind of. And yeah, the drivers probably got upset at being stopped so my fat slow behind could waddle past, but I'm just doing something our government will never do, namely reducing future healthcare costs, so they should appreciate my efforts.
While running, I figured out a new purpose for this blog: to become a hero. Work with me here for a second. If you save someone's life, you're a hero, right? You give them up to 75 years of life with your heroic actions. While I'm not saving lives, if I inspire 75 people to get in shape and eat better, and each person lives one more year as a result, isn't that the same as giving one person 75 years? I've already heard from at least 5 people I've inspired, so only 70 to go and I'm a certified hero. I'm pretty sure it works like that.
For dinner tonight, I made chili. There are ways to make "chili" with healthy substitutes like turkey, and some of those recipes are pretty good. But I wanted to make real chili, and find a way to make it lighter without sacrificing flavor, and still satisfying. So off I went, and here it is.
Chili:
2-3 pound beef shoulder chuck roast (880 calories per pound net)
1 butternut squash (64 calories per cup, usually yields 4)
2 cans red kidney beans (700 calories)
1 28oz can pureed tomatoes (300 calories)
2 tbsp molasses (120 calories)
1 dark beer (150 calories)
1 large onion (60 calories)
1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)
2 tbsp minced garlic
good amounts of chili powder and cumin, to taste, with salt & pepper
half can of pureed ancho chile in adobo
2 large jalapenos
1 square dark chocolate (70% or greater) (50 calories)
Cube the meat and be sure to eliminate all the obvious fat (I lost a full third of my roast to fat I threw out). Brown in oil in heavy dutch oven, and then add onions and garlic, and fry until soft. Add tomatoes and beer, and water or stock to cover, plus as much chili powder and cumin as you dare. Let boil on low, covered, for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally to deter sticking. Add more liquid as needed, with molasses, finely diced jalapenos, and more spice (yes, you need to keep adding it to build flavor). Let cook for another hour and add chocolate, ancho, and more spice, stirring them in, and then diced squash and liquid as needed, let cook for half an hour and add the beans (no liquid) and finish for 10 minutes. About 3200 calories for the pot, serving 5-6 600 calorie bowls. Serve with a spinach salad, 100 calories if you get crazy with it, for a balanced meal.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Yes, we have no bananas
Made a big mistake today. Wednesdays are a weights + cardio day, so I headed to the gym at lunch per usual plan. Problem was that my morning was busy, and every time I meant to go grab a snack and refuel for the workout, I got sidetracked. You see, I always try to put some direct energy in my system so I can be strong and finish my workout, and don't pass out during it. A measly 500 calorie breakfast is long gone 4 hours later, and my body needs fuel. Usually a banana is sufficient to keep me going, and at 100 calories it is a perfect snack.
I get to the gym and the line is too long at the cafe, so I figure "what the heck" and go without fuel. Yeah, that was a bad decision. I did manage 45 minutes of weights, abs, and rowing, but I had no energy doing it. I think I worked hard - got good reps in, but it felt terrible and I was clearly done and enervated at the end. I'm pretty sure if I would have tried cardio that I would have passed out on one of the machines. I definitely learned the hard way I can't let my fuel run low.
Dinner tonight was pretty simple. Cleaned three long-stem artichokes, diced them, and soaked them in lemon water until I was ready to cook them. Added a teaspoon of oil to a non-stick pan with a teaspoon of minced garlic, browned it, and then added the artichokes. Added the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons of stock, and salt and pepper, and then reduced the liquid until it was almost dry. About 150 calories a serving for a nice pile of artichoke.
In the same pan I fried (dry) the leftover potato-celery root mash from the weekend into pancakes. The pancakes got nice carmelization on the outside, and stayed mushy on the inside, so it really only added a little depth of flavor. Two small "pancakes" were probably about 150-200 calories each. I put a little pile of arugula sprouts on top of it for a texture, color, and flavor contrast.
I then pan seared and broiled some lamb chops. Lamb is not the ideal diet food by any means - one of those little chops has 400-500 calories in it. I topped it with some of the leftover mushrooms from the weekend, and the total meal was likely over the 700 calorie target I set for myself. Which is okay because I was reasonable and still at a deficit for the day.
I get to the gym and the line is too long at the cafe, so I figure "what the heck" and go without fuel. Yeah, that was a bad decision. I did manage 45 minutes of weights, abs, and rowing, but I had no energy doing it. I think I worked hard - got good reps in, but it felt terrible and I was clearly done and enervated at the end. I'm pretty sure if I would have tried cardio that I would have passed out on one of the machines. I definitely learned the hard way I can't let my fuel run low.
Dinner tonight was pretty simple. Cleaned three long-stem artichokes, diced them, and soaked them in lemon water until I was ready to cook them. Added a teaspoon of oil to a non-stick pan with a teaspoon of minced garlic, browned it, and then added the artichokes. Added the juice of half a lemon, a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons of stock, and salt and pepper, and then reduced the liquid until it was almost dry. About 150 calories a serving for a nice pile of artichoke.
In the same pan I fried (dry) the leftover potato-celery root mash from the weekend into pancakes. The pancakes got nice carmelization on the outside, and stayed mushy on the inside, so it really only added a little depth of flavor. Two small "pancakes" were probably about 150-200 calories each. I put a little pile of arugula sprouts on top of it for a texture, color, and flavor contrast.
I then pan seared and broiled some lamb chops. Lamb is not the ideal diet food by any means - one of those little chops has 400-500 calories in it. I topped it with some of the leftover mushrooms from the weekend, and the total meal was likely over the 700 calorie target I set for myself. Which is okay because I was reasonable and still at a deficit for the day.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
227
Tuesdays are always one of my favorite days of the workout/diet week. I like them because I usually put up a good weight on Tuesdays after my day of rest on Sunday and a subsequent strong cardio day Monday, and as such it is very exciting for me to get to the gym on Tuesdays to face the scale. Exciting to face the scale is an odd thing to think, but I always know my Tuesdays are going to be solid.
Today was no exception. I got on the scale and hit 227.0. Like the regrettable television show of the same name, that number hasn't been seen on a scale near me since the 90s. And unlike the television show, I was quite glad to see it again.
I like to swim on Tuesdays, but only had 45 minutes today. So instead of the usual 3-10 minute freestyle sessions and 3-10 minute breaststroke sessions, I went with 2 and 2, and in the last 5 minutes I did sprints (just because I apparently hate myself). That left me more than tired enough to feel I got a good workout in.
I like to think I'm a good swimmer, but apparently I'm really not. There was a guy in the next lane who effortlessly was putting half a length on me every lap, and it even seemed like he switched his strokes when I did just to mock me. I felt like Shaq swimming against Michael Phelps. Clearly my strength and stamina still isn't great, and I think my technique is pretty awful too. But I can't feel too bad - this dude was wearing a Speedo and swim cap, and obviously takes his swimming quite seriously, but it is still humbling to be crushed like that on every length.
Tonight's dinner was fairly simple. I made dinner for my wife and myself, and the boys, and made taco meat out of ground 93/7 turkey breast. Browned in a pan, I added spices (cumin mostly with some chili powder - too much for the boys, and onion and garlic powder), stock, and tomato paste (added way too much, only need a tablespoon). Since tortilla shells are high in calories, I decided to put it over a salad of mixed greens, cucumbers, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and cilantro tossed with a vinaigrette of olive oil, red wine vinegar, cumin, chili powder, Frank's Red Hot, and salt), with a side of basmati rice with cumin in it. We actually put the taco meat on the rice instead of salad though, and it turned out okay. The taco meat was probably 250-300 calories for 1/2 pound of seasoned turkey meat, the rice was 200 calories, and the salad was maybe 100 calories for a 600 calorie meal. Easy to do and easy to make with kids (the kids have it in a taco with cheese).
Today was no exception. I got on the scale and hit 227.0. Like the regrettable television show of the same name, that number hasn't been seen on a scale near me since the 90s. And unlike the television show, I was quite glad to see it again.
I like to swim on Tuesdays, but only had 45 minutes today. So instead of the usual 3-10 minute freestyle sessions and 3-10 minute breaststroke sessions, I went with 2 and 2, and in the last 5 minutes I did sprints (just because I apparently hate myself). That left me more than tired enough to feel I got a good workout in.
I like to think I'm a good swimmer, but apparently I'm really not. There was a guy in the next lane who effortlessly was putting half a length on me every lap, and it even seemed like he switched his strokes when I did just to mock me. I felt like Shaq swimming against Michael Phelps. Clearly my strength and stamina still isn't great, and I think my technique is pretty awful too. But I can't feel too bad - this dude was wearing a Speedo and swim cap, and obviously takes his swimming quite seriously, but it is still humbling to be crushed like that on every length.
Tonight's dinner was fairly simple. I made dinner for my wife and myself, and the boys, and made taco meat out of ground 93/7 turkey breast. Browned in a pan, I added spices (cumin mostly with some chili powder - too much for the boys, and onion and garlic powder), stock, and tomato paste (added way too much, only need a tablespoon). Since tortilla shells are high in calories, I decided to put it over a salad of mixed greens, cucumbers, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and cilantro tossed with a vinaigrette of olive oil, red wine vinegar, cumin, chili powder, Frank's Red Hot, and salt), with a side of basmati rice with cumin in it. We actually put the taco meat on the rice instead of salad though, and it turned out okay. The taco meat was probably 250-300 calories for 1/2 pound of seasoned turkey meat, the rice was 200 calories, and the salad was maybe 100 calories for a 600 calorie meal. Easy to do and easy to make with kids (the kids have it in a taco with cheese).
Monday, February 22, 2010
No Excuses
Today was a hard day to get in a workout. When you check your emails first thing in the morning and get a string of urgent messages someone sent you from 3 AM, you can kind of figure it is going to be a long day. And it was.
Unable to get a workout in during lunch, heck barely able to have any lunch, I had to find a way to make time. I did have an hour at the end of the day that I yielded to my wife to allow her to go workout, while I tended the baby, and then when she came back, I helped feed and monitor the boys while she put the baby down. Next thing you know it is time to make dinner and end the day.
But one of the major tenets of my program is "no excuses". In the old days, I would always make excuses as to why I couldn't exercise, and it was easy to do that. There's always something that stops you if you let it, so I won't let anything stop me. Tonight, I forced myself to get out and go for a run later, and somehow got 4.5 miles in when I could easily have skipped it. And I was still able to get back in time to make dinner in a timely manner. It was chilly and quite dark when I got back, but I did it.
The run itself was miserable. The sunshine of yesterday is long gone, and it was about 50 degrees when I embarked ("bitter cold" to Texans, "slightly brisk" for us more hearty folk). And my body broke down head to toe during the run, like the Bluesmobile falling apart in Daley center in slow motion. First it was the bad shoulder throbbing badly, almost forcing me to stop. Then it was the back again, then the left hip, the left knee, and finally the right foot. Funny how each pain would go away before the next appeared. Oh, and because I was running late in the day, I was hungry and enervated. Fun fun fun. Nonetheless, I ran through it all, made good time (about 10 minutes a mile, actually feeling pretty strong despite everything), and finished. No excuses.
I started dinner before I ran. I took 5 parsnips, cleaned and cubed them, and sauteed them in a tablespoon of olive oil with a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and 1 tsp ancho powder, with salt and pepper to taste. I mashed 4 or 5 cloves of roasted garlic in about 1/4 cup of stock, and tossed that in the parsnips. About 260 calories for a healthy portion of parsnips, high in Vitamin C too.
2 cups of snap peas went into the pan afterward to pick up the residual flavors, with just a teaspoon more of oil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar, minced cilantro, and salt and pepper. About 50 calories per serving.
The meat was a pork chop, thick cut butterflied loin chop. Pan seared and then topped with a glaze of a tablespoon of preserves (I used blueberry jalepeno), teaspoon of garlic, and teaspoon of soy sauce reduced in a pan until nicely sticky. Total calories about 400 for a .4 pound serving (chop was .8 pounds, served two).
Unable to get a workout in during lunch, heck barely able to have any lunch, I had to find a way to make time. I did have an hour at the end of the day that I yielded to my wife to allow her to go workout, while I tended the baby, and then when she came back, I helped feed and monitor the boys while she put the baby down. Next thing you know it is time to make dinner and end the day.
But one of the major tenets of my program is "no excuses". In the old days, I would always make excuses as to why I couldn't exercise, and it was easy to do that. There's always something that stops you if you let it, so I won't let anything stop me. Tonight, I forced myself to get out and go for a run later, and somehow got 4.5 miles in when I could easily have skipped it. And I was still able to get back in time to make dinner in a timely manner. It was chilly and quite dark when I got back, but I did it.
The run itself was miserable. The sunshine of yesterday is long gone, and it was about 50 degrees when I embarked ("bitter cold" to Texans, "slightly brisk" for us more hearty folk). And my body broke down head to toe during the run, like the Bluesmobile falling apart in Daley center in slow motion. First it was the bad shoulder throbbing badly, almost forcing me to stop. Then it was the back again, then the left hip, the left knee, and finally the right foot. Funny how each pain would go away before the next appeared. Oh, and because I was running late in the day, I was hungry and enervated. Fun fun fun. Nonetheless, I ran through it all, made good time (about 10 minutes a mile, actually feeling pretty strong despite everything), and finished. No excuses.
I started dinner before I ran. I took 5 parsnips, cleaned and cubed them, and sauteed them in a tablespoon of olive oil with a teaspoon of cumin seeds, and 1 tsp ancho powder, with salt and pepper to taste. I mashed 4 or 5 cloves of roasted garlic in about 1/4 cup of stock, and tossed that in the parsnips. About 260 calories for a healthy portion of parsnips, high in Vitamin C too.
2 cups of snap peas went into the pan afterward to pick up the residual flavors, with just a teaspoon more of oil, and a dash of balsamic vinegar, minced cilantro, and salt and pepper. About 50 calories per serving.
The meat was a pork chop, thick cut butterflied loin chop. Pan seared and then topped with a glaze of a tablespoon of preserves (I used blueberry jalepeno), teaspoon of garlic, and teaspoon of soy sauce reduced in a pan until nicely sticky. Total calories about 400 for a .4 pound serving (chop was .8 pounds, served two).
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sun Day
Somehow it turned out to be a 75 degree sunny perfect day down here in Austin. At first I figured it was a perfect day to go get some exercise, because I've apparently become some sort of fitness psychopath now, but my body quickly chimed in: "dude, you've got to take a day off". My body was right. So I took today off from exercise and enjoyed my time with my family today.
I've always had a thing about the first really nice day of the year. I used to celebrate it by drinking one of those Foster's Lager oil cans outside by myself (I'm weird, what do you want), soaking in the nice air and sunshine and reminding myself that happy days were ahead. It is like getting released from prison, less so when you live in Texas than when you live up north, granted. The sun and the smell of the spring air just fill you with happiness. Such an awesome feeling.
Well, there was no Foster's today, but I definitely was going to take advantage of the day. My wife had a soccer game, so I put the boys and my daughter in the Family Truckster and we went to the fields to watch her play and kick the ball around. My daughter was somewhat displeased getting into the car again, having just made the journey back and forth from church in the morning, but she was a happy camper once she was in her baby bjorn again and enjoyed the nice weather. She's such a good baby.
The boys and I played a little soccer and generally we had a fun day. It is somewhat difficult to play soccer with a baby strapped to your chest, in case you're curious. Note that I was not running - it doesn't take much athletic effort to keep up with my 5 and 4 year olds, and I'm not going to run with a baby strapped to me, especially considering what a spaz I am. Even so, walking around for an hour with a baby didn't do much for my back which I wrecked yesterday, but we were all enjoying the day, so it was clearly time to cowboy up and play through the pain. We stopped at the park on the way home for some climbing and a quick game of tag (the baby went home with my wife). Fun in the sun, and I got to move around a little, stretch out, and still get my body some well needed rest. Excellent day all around.
I started making dinner at breakfast this morning. My oldest wanted mango, my youngest pineapple, so I took the leftover bits from each and mixed them with some leftover avocado and Asian pear from yesterday to make a fruit salsa. Recipe as follows:
1/2 avocado, diced (140 calories)
1/2 Asian pear, diced (60 calories)
1 cup pineapple, diced (80 calories)
1/2 mango, diced (70 calories)
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp chili paste
1 tsp grated ginger
1 small handful cilantro, rustic chopped
Pinch salt, to taste
Mix together and let it marinate in the refrigerator for as long as you can. The avocado will melt into the salsa and form a creamy sauce. This will be a little spicy from the chili paste, and the raw ginger will add a little bite to be sure. There will be all kinds of different textures in the salsa from very soft (mango) to very crisp (Asian pear).
I used it as a topping for turkey tenderloins (1/2 pound = 240 calories) which I coated in Chinese five spice and pan seared then roasted in the oven at 350 until done (3 minutes in pan, flip, stick in oven, cook for about 15-20 minutes, let rest). The above recipe of salsa should make about four servings of the salsa, about 100 calories per serving. Of course, if you happen to grab the bowl of salsa and eat it directly because it is tasty, you'll be eating extra calories, but nobody at my home did that....
Side carb was red rice, cooked with a teaspoon of the ginger and a teaspoon of Thai basil. 170 calories per serving. The side vegetable was 4 cups of arugula (30 calories) sauteed in a tablespoon of sesame oil (120 calories), 1 tsp of garlic and 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tbsp chili paste. About 600 calories total, not counting any extra salsa that was consumed...
I always feel energized at the end of my Sundays, and I feel great now. I've also noticed that I lose most of the weight on my Tuesday/Wednesday weigh-ins and maintain that level through Saturday. I think that my day of rest helps me heal and helps my body right itself, and kicks out the weight. When I mentioned this to a friend, he suggested I take seven days a week off and then I'd really shed the pounds. Of course I have a bet with him to lose 15 pounds the fastest (I have this bet with two guys actually), so I don't think he was looking out for my best interests...
I've always had a thing about the first really nice day of the year. I used to celebrate it by drinking one of those Foster's Lager oil cans outside by myself (I'm weird, what do you want), soaking in the nice air and sunshine and reminding myself that happy days were ahead. It is like getting released from prison, less so when you live in Texas than when you live up north, granted. The sun and the smell of the spring air just fill you with happiness. Such an awesome feeling.
Well, there was no Foster's today, but I definitely was going to take advantage of the day. My wife had a soccer game, so I put the boys and my daughter in the Family Truckster and we went to the fields to watch her play and kick the ball around. My daughter was somewhat displeased getting into the car again, having just made the journey back and forth from church in the morning, but she was a happy camper once she was in her baby bjorn again and enjoyed the nice weather. She's such a good baby.
The boys and I played a little soccer and generally we had a fun day. It is somewhat difficult to play soccer with a baby strapped to your chest, in case you're curious. Note that I was not running - it doesn't take much athletic effort to keep up with my 5 and 4 year olds, and I'm not going to run with a baby strapped to me, especially considering what a spaz I am. Even so, walking around for an hour with a baby didn't do much for my back which I wrecked yesterday, but we were all enjoying the day, so it was clearly time to cowboy up and play through the pain. We stopped at the park on the way home for some climbing and a quick game of tag (the baby went home with my wife). Fun in the sun, and I got to move around a little, stretch out, and still get my body some well needed rest. Excellent day all around.
I started making dinner at breakfast this morning. My oldest wanted mango, my youngest pineapple, so I took the leftover bits from each and mixed them with some leftover avocado and Asian pear from yesterday to make a fruit salsa. Recipe as follows:
1/2 avocado, diced (140 calories)
1/2 Asian pear, diced (60 calories)
1 cup pineapple, diced (80 calories)
1/2 mango, diced (70 calories)
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp chili paste
1 tsp grated ginger
1 small handful cilantro, rustic chopped
Pinch salt, to taste
Mix together and let it marinate in the refrigerator for as long as you can. The avocado will melt into the salsa and form a creamy sauce. This will be a little spicy from the chili paste, and the raw ginger will add a little bite to be sure. There will be all kinds of different textures in the salsa from very soft (mango) to very crisp (Asian pear).
I used it as a topping for turkey tenderloins (1/2 pound = 240 calories) which I coated in Chinese five spice and pan seared then roasted in the oven at 350 until done (3 minutes in pan, flip, stick in oven, cook for about 15-20 minutes, let rest). The above recipe of salsa should make about four servings of the salsa, about 100 calories per serving. Of course, if you happen to grab the bowl of salsa and eat it directly because it is tasty, you'll be eating extra calories, but nobody at my home did that....
Side carb was red rice, cooked with a teaspoon of the ginger and a teaspoon of Thai basil. 170 calories per serving. The side vegetable was 4 cups of arugula (30 calories) sauteed in a tablespoon of sesame oil (120 calories), 1 tsp of garlic and 1 tsp of ginger, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tbsp chili paste. About 600 calories total, not counting any extra salsa that was consumed...
I always feel energized at the end of my Sundays, and I feel great now. I've also noticed that I lose most of the weight on my Tuesday/Wednesday weigh-ins and maintain that level through Saturday. I think that my day of rest helps me heal and helps my body right itself, and kicks out the weight. When I mentioned this to a friend, he suggested I take seven days a week off and then I'd really shed the pounds. Of course I have a bet with him to lose 15 pounds the fastest (I have this bet with two guys actually), so I don't think he was looking out for my best interests...
Saturday, February 20, 2010
I hate the Stairmaster
The Stairmaster. The medieval torture device of the gym. Part rack, part thumbscrews, all pain. If you asked me if I would rather be waterboarded or be put on the Stairmaster for half an hour, I'd say "agua por favor", although I don't know why I'd be speaking Spanish. Maybe it would be to throw off my cruel captors.
I did weights and abs for about an hour, and needed to get home for my wife, so I had to get as good of a workout as I could in my final half an hour. That meant only one thing: the Stairmaster. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my body usually revolts at the beginning of any workout, but then gets something akin to Stockholm Syndrome and goes along with the program. Even in my worst shape this condition allows me to demonstrate unusual stamina, and close strong in whatever I do. But on the Stairmaster, I don't get Stockholm Syndrome. I get Mr. T syndrome - all pain all the time.
The sweat that poured out of me was insane - I think people near me feared the roof above me was leaking. It also got me thinking about dietary injustice. I'll explain the concept simply:
1 doughnut = 200 calories.
15 minutes on the Stairmaster = 200 calorie burn.
What a cruel world we live in where that horrific punishment is levied on the crime of eating a delicious fried and glazed pastry!
Anyway, I lost a full pound torturing myself at the gym today, starting at 230 even and finishing at 229.
Today was especially brutal because I had to make dinner for family coming over. So after a shower it was right out to the grocery store where I had my baby tethered to my chest for 90 minutes of additional exercise, and then I was on my feet in the kitchen for 3 hours. My back is pretty thoroughly destroyed right now, I'm glad tomorrow is my off day.
I didn't figure out the caloric content in dinner, I probably went off the diet a little as my mom was kind enough to provide a beautiful prime rib roast for the main meat (although I had a very reasonable portion and trimmed the fat, so I was probably close to dietary parameters). One of the side dishes was a potato and celery root mash - mixing 50% celery root into mashed potatoes significantly cuts calories, provides additional nutrition, and adds a great freshness to it. Oven roast them together until soft in just a touch of olive oil and salt, and then mash together with hand blender in a cup of milk and sufficient stock until creamy. Note: I used one giant celery root and 3.5 pounds of potatoes, so the resulting dish served about 12 easily. Toss in a tablespoon of carmelized shallots and some optional horseradish (I actually found some fresh wasabi, which was incredible in the potatoes), and you have a tasty and lighter side dish. Remember to watch the portions, about a cup of the mash should be about 200 calories or so nearest I can figure it.
By the way, special props to Jasper's restaurant. My wife and I went there last night with my family members that were in town. Even though Jasper's makes good southern style cuisine, which isn't traditionally very healthy, they make very nice portions of food that are well balanced, so you can actually get a healthyish meal. Plus the food is delicious, which never hurts. Philosophically, if I'm going out, I'll accept "close enough" on the diet. I figure living a monastically gastronomic existence is worth a little pleasure every now and then, as long as I don't go crazy and destroy all my hard work.
I did weights and abs for about an hour, and needed to get home for my wife, so I had to get as good of a workout as I could in my final half an hour. That meant only one thing: the Stairmaster. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my body usually revolts at the beginning of any workout, but then gets something akin to Stockholm Syndrome and goes along with the program. Even in my worst shape this condition allows me to demonstrate unusual stamina, and close strong in whatever I do. But on the Stairmaster, I don't get Stockholm Syndrome. I get Mr. T syndrome - all pain all the time.
The sweat that poured out of me was insane - I think people near me feared the roof above me was leaking. It also got me thinking about dietary injustice. I'll explain the concept simply:
1 doughnut = 200 calories.
15 minutes on the Stairmaster = 200 calorie burn.
What a cruel world we live in where that horrific punishment is levied on the crime of eating a delicious fried and glazed pastry!
Anyway, I lost a full pound torturing myself at the gym today, starting at 230 even and finishing at 229.
Today was especially brutal because I had to make dinner for family coming over. So after a shower it was right out to the grocery store where I had my baby tethered to my chest for 90 minutes of additional exercise, and then I was on my feet in the kitchen for 3 hours. My back is pretty thoroughly destroyed right now, I'm glad tomorrow is my off day.
I didn't figure out the caloric content in dinner, I probably went off the diet a little as my mom was kind enough to provide a beautiful prime rib roast for the main meat (although I had a very reasonable portion and trimmed the fat, so I was probably close to dietary parameters). One of the side dishes was a potato and celery root mash - mixing 50% celery root into mashed potatoes significantly cuts calories, provides additional nutrition, and adds a great freshness to it. Oven roast them together until soft in just a touch of olive oil and salt, and then mash together with hand blender in a cup of milk and sufficient stock until creamy. Note: I used one giant celery root and 3.5 pounds of potatoes, so the resulting dish served about 12 easily. Toss in a tablespoon of carmelized shallots and some optional horseradish (I actually found some fresh wasabi, which was incredible in the potatoes), and you have a tasty and lighter side dish. Remember to watch the portions, about a cup of the mash should be about 200 calories or so nearest I can figure it.
By the way, special props to Jasper's restaurant. My wife and I went there last night with my family members that were in town. Even though Jasper's makes good southern style cuisine, which isn't traditionally very healthy, they make very nice portions of food that are well balanced, so you can actually get a healthyish meal. Plus the food is delicious, which never hurts. Philosophically, if I'm going out, I'll accept "close enough" on the diet. I figure living a monastically gastronomic existence is worth a little pleasure every now and then, as long as I don't go crazy and destroy all my hard work.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tiger Woods
With the exception of a number of lies, half-truths, and convenient omissions, Tiger Woods came clean today on his infidelities. In that spirit, I figured it was time to confess my "eatin cheatin" sins of the past so I can make a clean break and move on with my life.
"Eatin cheatin" is a term coined by my wife's cousin for all the snacking on unhealthy food he does outside of his home. Like Elin Woods receiving late night text messages from skanky Vegas hostesses, my confessions of some of my "eatin cheatin" sins in this blog shocked and horrified my wife. Well, not exactly like Elin Woods, because my wife didn't hit me in the face with a kielbasa or anything. But still...
Please forgive me if I sound longing and lustful. I am going to indulge in my culinary mistresses one more time, if only mentally. After this, however, I should be able to move on and the healing process should be able to begin in earnest.
I wish to confess to the following sins:
The Luther Breakfast Sandwich. A breakfast version of the Luther Burger, it involves 3 eggs, cheese, and a giant sausage patty between two doughnuts. I know what you're thinking, "where's the bacon?", and yes, it would have been better with bacon but we didn't have any at the time. But it was still a well balanced and delicious breakfast. Okay, "well balanced" may not be the right word, but it was certainly hearty and filling.
Saturday mornings at the doughnut shop. I've already confessed that I used to wait in bed expectantly for my kids on Saturdays knowing full well they would ask to go to the doughnut shop. Sometimes, when they didn't ask, I would subtly coach them to ask their mom so it wouldn't look like my idea. And off to the shop we would go. We'd get a full dozen, because they were cheaper that way, and some kolaches because you have to have some protein in your breakfast (my favorite was the Big Earl spicy). Two kolaches and three doughnuts was my usual - hey, it's breakfast, I can work it off during the day (I didn't realize it was over 1,300 calories just for breakfast). Oh, and one of the doughnuts was cream filled usually, but another was fruit filled, and fruit is healthy.
The Texas Doughnut. When I saw this beauty on Man vs. Food, I knew I needed one immediately if not sooner, so I went the next morning and got one. One doughnut with the mass of 12. And oh man was it delicious. About a quarter inch of thick chocolate frosting on a nearly endless landscape of doughnut heaven. I only ate a third of the thing (I shared) and it was such a happy morning.
The Quad Stacker. Burger King's stacker family is filled with delicious burger choices that have cheese, bacon, bbq sauce, and all the meat you want. One particular afternoon, for some reason, I needed a quad stacker medicinally. Over 1000 calories of deliciousness cured what ailed me. Note that I would usually only get a double stacker, with a shake, for lunch when I went to the King, which is conveniently just up the street from my home.
The Triple Bypass Burger. When in Arizona with friends for an ill-fated national title game trip, one of my buddies discovered this place called the Heart Attack Grill. Their gimmick is unhealthy everything, and if you finish a triple bypass burger they actually wheel you to your car in a wheelchair. So of course we ordered the triples. I'm not sure exactly how many pounds of meat were involved, with bacon, cheese, and condiments, but I remember doing the math and discovering I had consumed over 3000 calories in a single burger. I absolutely love burgers, but that experience left me not able to eat a burger for well over a month. It was kind of like your dad discovering you smoking and making you smoke a carton of cigarettes back to back.
Dessert. I used to kid myself that all I needed for dessert was an apertif. Which made me hungry for a real dessert of some sort. Three scoops of ice cream coated with melted 70% chocolate, and whipped cream if we had it. Oh yeah, that's how you end a day.
But I am a reformed and changed man now. All these things are in my past. I bid them adieu with a final song:
To all the foods I've loved before,
Animal style or four by four,
I dedicate my waist
to your delicious taste.
To all the foods I've loved before
To all the food I'll not eat again,
From cows, or pigs, or from the hen
I run an extra mile
your memory makes me smile,
To all the food I'll not eat again.
"Eatin cheatin" is a term coined by my wife's cousin for all the snacking on unhealthy food he does outside of his home. Like Elin Woods receiving late night text messages from skanky Vegas hostesses, my confessions of some of my "eatin cheatin" sins in this blog shocked and horrified my wife. Well, not exactly like Elin Woods, because my wife didn't hit me in the face with a kielbasa or anything. But still...
Please forgive me if I sound longing and lustful. I am going to indulge in my culinary mistresses one more time, if only mentally. After this, however, I should be able to move on and the healing process should be able to begin in earnest.
I wish to confess to the following sins:
The Luther Breakfast Sandwich. A breakfast version of the Luther Burger, it involves 3 eggs, cheese, and a giant sausage patty between two doughnuts. I know what you're thinking, "where's the bacon?", and yes, it would have been better with bacon but we didn't have any at the time. But it was still a well balanced and delicious breakfast. Okay, "well balanced" may not be the right word, but it was certainly hearty and filling.
Saturday mornings at the doughnut shop. I've already confessed that I used to wait in bed expectantly for my kids on Saturdays knowing full well they would ask to go to the doughnut shop. Sometimes, when they didn't ask, I would subtly coach them to ask their mom so it wouldn't look like my idea. And off to the shop we would go. We'd get a full dozen, because they were cheaper that way, and some kolaches because you have to have some protein in your breakfast (my favorite was the Big Earl spicy). Two kolaches and three doughnuts was my usual - hey, it's breakfast, I can work it off during the day (I didn't realize it was over 1,300 calories just for breakfast). Oh, and one of the doughnuts was cream filled usually, but another was fruit filled, and fruit is healthy.
The Texas Doughnut. When I saw this beauty on Man vs. Food, I knew I needed one immediately if not sooner, so I went the next morning and got one. One doughnut with the mass of 12. And oh man was it delicious. About a quarter inch of thick chocolate frosting on a nearly endless landscape of doughnut heaven. I only ate a third of the thing (I shared) and it was such a happy morning.
The Quad Stacker. Burger King's stacker family is filled with delicious burger choices that have cheese, bacon, bbq sauce, and all the meat you want. One particular afternoon, for some reason, I needed a quad stacker medicinally. Over 1000 calories of deliciousness cured what ailed me. Note that I would usually only get a double stacker, with a shake, for lunch when I went to the King, which is conveniently just up the street from my home.
The Triple Bypass Burger. When in Arizona with friends for an ill-fated national title game trip, one of my buddies discovered this place called the Heart Attack Grill. Their gimmick is unhealthy everything, and if you finish a triple bypass burger they actually wheel you to your car in a wheelchair. So of course we ordered the triples. I'm not sure exactly how many pounds of meat were involved, with bacon, cheese, and condiments, but I remember doing the math and discovering I had consumed over 3000 calories in a single burger. I absolutely love burgers, but that experience left me not able to eat a burger for well over a month. It was kind of like your dad discovering you smoking and making you smoke a carton of cigarettes back to back.
Dessert. I used to kid myself that all I needed for dessert was an apertif. Which made me hungry for a real dessert of some sort. Three scoops of ice cream coated with melted 70% chocolate, and whipped cream if we had it. Oh yeah, that's how you end a day.
But I am a reformed and changed man now. All these things are in my past. I bid them adieu with a final song:
To all the foods I've loved before,
Animal style or four by four,
I dedicate my waist
to your delicious taste.
To all the foods I've loved before
To all the food I'll not eat again,
From cows, or pigs, or from the hen
I run an extra mile
your memory makes me smile,
To all the food I'll not eat again.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Buffalo Ragu with Roasted Raddichio
Legs needed a break, so I did Wii boxing for about an hour today. I got a pair of weighted gloves, and it is pretty amazing how much of a sweat (and rage) you work up punching those animated palookas. Matt makes me especially angry - why did they make him so hard to beat?
Anyway, decided to make some pasta tonight. The problem with pasta is that it is so easy to overeat it, and make yourself way too big of portions of it. Before you know it, you're eating 1500 calories for dinner. By the way, the next person that says "oh, Italian Place X is awesome - they have the biggest bowls of pasta I've ever seen", look out, because I'm punching you. That place is not awesome. That place overprices incredibly cheap and lousy food that isn't homemade and is barely edible. And having a giant bowl of slop is, well, a giant bowl of slop. You need to do better than try to make me fat in order to impress me - I'm not in college anymore. Give me a reasonable portion of someone's grandmother's recipe, or something inspired. Not a pile of mushy pasta in V8 juice.
Tonight's dinner:
Sauce:
1 pound ground buffalo meat (800 calories)
1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)
2 cups chopped carrots (100 calories)
2 cups chopped red onion (50 calories)
1 26-oz can diced San Marzano tomatoes (150 calories)
1 cup skim milk (80 calories)
tablespoon garlic
pinch crushed red pepper (optional)
splash balsamic vinegar
healthy grate of whole nutmeg
two basil leaves
pinch Italian parsley
brown buffalo in half the olive oil and remove from pan. Add the rest of the oil and the carrots and onion to the pan (you shouldn't need to drain the fat as the meat is incredibly lean, but if you need to, do it), and sautee a bit until translucent. Deglace the pan with balsamic vinegar while browning to prevent flavor from buffalo from burning. Add the garlic toward the end, and then add the tomatoes and stir, deglacing with the liquid from the tomatoes. Add crushed red pepper and nutmeg. Allow to simmer covered on low until carrots and onions are soft, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Finish with milk, add the buffalo back to the pan, and stir in chopped herbs.
Note this makes four servings, so make sure it serves four. 425 calories per serving. Actually, it could serve 6-8, but eating the little chunks of carrots and bison are really tasty, so you'll want to oversauce. Add to one serving of pasta (200 additional calories). Again, one serving of pasta is 1/8 of a box, so don't overdo it.
Side: Roasted radicchio
In discussing my quest with a friend that helps people fight their weight and get healthy for a living (among other things), I was recently sent this amazing recipe. I substituted radicchio in my dinner tonight for a slightly different flavor (and since I didn't have any romaine on hand):
I figure a half a head of radicchio with a touch of oil and cheese is about 75 calories, bringing the whole dinner to around 700 calories.
Anyway, decided to make some pasta tonight. The problem with pasta is that it is so easy to overeat it, and make yourself way too big of portions of it. Before you know it, you're eating 1500 calories for dinner. By the way, the next person that says "oh, Italian Place X is awesome - they have the biggest bowls of pasta I've ever seen", look out, because I'm punching you. That place is not awesome. That place overprices incredibly cheap and lousy food that isn't homemade and is barely edible. And having a giant bowl of slop is, well, a giant bowl of slop. You need to do better than try to make me fat in order to impress me - I'm not in college anymore. Give me a reasonable portion of someone's grandmother's recipe, or something inspired. Not a pile of mushy pasta in V8 juice.
Tonight's dinner:
Sauce:
1 pound ground buffalo meat (800 calories)
1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)
2 cups chopped carrots (100 calories)
2 cups chopped red onion (50 calories)
1 26-oz can diced San Marzano tomatoes (150 calories)
1 cup skim milk (80 calories)
tablespoon garlic
pinch crushed red pepper (optional)
splash balsamic vinegar
healthy grate of whole nutmeg
two basil leaves
pinch Italian parsley
brown buffalo in half the olive oil and remove from pan. Add the rest of the oil and the carrots and onion to the pan (you shouldn't need to drain the fat as the meat is incredibly lean, but if you need to, do it), and sautee a bit until translucent. Deglace the pan with balsamic vinegar while browning to prevent flavor from buffalo from burning. Add the garlic toward the end, and then add the tomatoes and stir, deglacing with the liquid from the tomatoes. Add crushed red pepper and nutmeg. Allow to simmer covered on low until carrots and onions are soft, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Finish with milk, add the buffalo back to the pan, and stir in chopped herbs.
Note this makes four servings, so make sure it serves four. 425 calories per serving. Actually, it could serve 6-8, but eating the little chunks of carrots and bison are really tasty, so you'll want to oversauce. Add to one serving of pasta (200 additional calories). Again, one serving of pasta is 1/8 of a box, so don't overdo it.
Side: Roasted radicchio
In discussing my quest with a friend that helps people fight their weight and get healthy for a living (among other things), I was recently sent this amazing recipe. I substituted radicchio in my dinner tonight for a slightly different flavor (and since I didn't have any romaine on hand):
Take a head of romaine, keep the core in and slice it long way in half. Take the halves and put them on a cookie sheet with evoo, cut side up, spray halves with olive oil mister. Put a little bit of black pepper only. Roast in a preheated oven 425 for 12 minutes, bottom rack.
While it is roasting make a mixture of grated parm reggianno, grate it chunky not a fine grate, like 1/2 cup, to that add the grated zest from one lemon (don't zest in strips, grate it fine) then add a handful of fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley. Mix that together with your fingers. When the romaine comes out of the oven sprinkle the mixture on top and let it just melt into the hot romaine...top with a high-end evoo, if you so choose.
I figure a half a head of radicchio with a touch of oil and cheese is about 75 calories, bringing the whole dinner to around 700 calories.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Balsamic Portabella Chicken with Roasted Garlic Quinoa
Before I get to dinner, I'll discuss the workout from today. Well, workoutS, plural. I went to the gym during lunch to do weights, but had to work and couldn't do a respectable cardio set, so I tabled that for a run later in the day.
At the gym I did my usual Wednesday workout with some minor variations. One was due to the fact that a very strong and healthy woman picked up the exact weights I was using for one of my exercises and started doing the exact same exercise I was doing with them (overhead shoulder press). I was too embarassed to wait for them and pick them up and do the same thing, so I changed the routine up a little. Yeah, I know, I preached earlier about getting over that, but I'm sure you will understand me here.
In my defense I busted up my right shoulder pretty good about 15 years ago playing softball. I've also actually broken my elbow playing softball (running the bases no less), both facts pointing to nothing less than me being an idiot. The shoulder injury still bothers me when I use it too much, and shockingly it has only been a minor nuisance in my current program. It did throb a little on my run later though, so I'll have to watch it and take care of it. And yes, I tried to see a doctor about it once, but the doctor focused more on my foot that I thought was broken from jumping up and down in one of those inflatable bouncy things kids play in. I already told you I'm an idiot.
I did decide to work a little on the rowing machine at the end of my weights and abs program, which toasted my legs a bit. This was probably why my legs were bitching so much when I ran five hours later, after giving them just enough time to start to tighten up. Maybe not such a good idea, especially since I was going "fast" on a short run.
Anyway, tonight's dinner - portion as usual is for two
2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 100 calories each
Pan sear in non-stick pan and a touch of olive oil until cooked through. Put aside to rest
Sauce:
1/8 red onion
6 small portabello mushrooms, sliced (about 40 calories total)
2 tbsp olive oil (240 calories)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (30 calories)
3-8 cloves roasted garlic
pinch crushed red pepper
2 tbsp stock
drop agave nectar
sautee onions inoil until translucent and add mushrooms to hot pan (use the same pan you just cooked the chicken breast in to maximize the flavor). Add everything else and cook until mushrooms are done and most of the liquid is evaporated. Pour on top of chicken, adds about 200 calories, less if you cut back the oil.
Roasted Garlic Quinoa:
1/2 cup quinoa (315 calories)
1/2 cup stock
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)
3-8 coves roasted garlic
Toast quinoa in oil and then add stock and water. Mash the heck out of the garlic and add paste to pot. cover until cooked. About 220 calories per serving, less if you omit the oil.
Add a steamed medium stalk of broccoli at 65 calories and you have a dinner of about 600 calories.
At the gym I did my usual Wednesday workout with some minor variations. One was due to the fact that a very strong and healthy woman picked up the exact weights I was using for one of my exercises and started doing the exact same exercise I was doing with them (overhead shoulder press). I was too embarassed to wait for them and pick them up and do the same thing, so I changed the routine up a little. Yeah, I know, I preached earlier about getting over that, but I'm sure you will understand me here.
In my defense I busted up my right shoulder pretty good about 15 years ago playing softball. I've also actually broken my elbow playing softball (running the bases no less), both facts pointing to nothing less than me being an idiot. The shoulder injury still bothers me when I use it too much, and shockingly it has only been a minor nuisance in my current program. It did throb a little on my run later though, so I'll have to watch it and take care of it. And yes, I tried to see a doctor about it once, but the doctor focused more on my foot that I thought was broken from jumping up and down in one of those inflatable bouncy things kids play in. I already told you I'm an idiot.
I did decide to work a little on the rowing machine at the end of my weights and abs program, which toasted my legs a bit. This was probably why my legs were bitching so much when I ran five hours later, after giving them just enough time to start to tighten up. Maybe not such a good idea, especially since I was going "fast" on a short run.
Anyway, tonight's dinner - portion as usual is for two
2 Boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 100 calories each
Pan sear in non-stick pan and a touch of olive oil until cooked through. Put aside to rest
Sauce:
1/8 red onion
6 small portabello mushrooms, sliced (about 40 calories total)
2 tbsp olive oil (240 calories)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar (30 calories)
3-8 cloves roasted garlic
pinch crushed red pepper
2 tbsp stock
drop agave nectar
sautee onions inoil until translucent and add mushrooms to hot pan (use the same pan you just cooked the chicken breast in to maximize the flavor). Add everything else and cook until mushrooms are done and most of the liquid is evaporated. Pour on top of chicken, adds about 200 calories, less if you cut back the oil.
Roasted Garlic Quinoa:
1/2 cup quinoa (315 calories)
1/2 cup stock
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp olive oil (120 calories)
3-8 coves roasted garlic
Toast quinoa in oil and then add stock and water. Mash the heck out of the garlic and add paste to pot. cover until cooked. About 220 calories per serving, less if you omit the oil.
Add a steamed medium stalk of broccoli at 65 calories and you have a dinner of about 600 calories.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Cleaning out the Attic
In the past 12-15 years I've moved about 7-8 times that I can count. Every time I move, I'm amazed at how much pure crap I drag around with me from place to place. Some stuff naturally doesn't survive each move, but some stuff just keeps tagging along with me, even though I haven't used it during the entire time period. It just sits in the attic waiting for me to move again so it can be loaded on a truck and put in a brand new attic.
My gut is the same way. It is packed with flab that got packed on 12-15 years ago and hasn't been touched since it was first created. It kind of makes me wonder - is it the same flab I've been carrying around all these years, or does it recycle and keep fresh?
I think about this because today I got below 230 (229.6 to be precise) for the first time in the past 12-15 years. As I unpack my "flab attic" I wonder if I'm opening little time capsules filled with Yuengling, Reese's Cups, and chicken wings from years ago? And if so, why can't it be tasty like it was back then?
Speaking of things not seen in some time, I noticed today in the mirror that I could actually see a few of my ribs, which too many ribs and things that "stick to your ribs" (quite literally apparently) had long since occluded with a protective layer of fat. On that note, I was talking to a friend of mine who just hit 40, and who has recently lost about 30 pounds, and we both noted that losing the fat jacket makes us chillier, which is to be expected as it was like wearing a thick coat under your skin. Here I thought my Cleveland heritage just made me hearty and immune to the cold, whereas it turns out I was just fat. Who knew?
My gut is the same way. It is packed with flab that got packed on 12-15 years ago and hasn't been touched since it was first created. It kind of makes me wonder - is it the same flab I've been carrying around all these years, or does it recycle and keep fresh?
I think about this because today I got below 230 (229.6 to be precise) for the first time in the past 12-15 years. As I unpack my "flab attic" I wonder if I'm opening little time capsules filled with Yuengling, Reese's Cups, and chicken wings from years ago? And if so, why can't it be tasty like it was back then?
Speaking of things not seen in some time, I noticed today in the mirror that I could actually see a few of my ribs, which too many ribs and things that "stick to your ribs" (quite literally apparently) had long since occluded with a protective layer of fat. On that note, I was talking to a friend of mine who just hit 40, and who has recently lost about 30 pounds, and we both noted that losing the fat jacket makes us chillier, which is to be expected as it was like wearing a thick coat under your skin. Here I thought my Cleveland heritage just made me hearty and immune to the cold, whereas it turns out I was just fat. Who knew?
Veal Shanks, Cauliflower, and Cannelini Beans
Last night's dinner was pretty easy. There are ways to make it more complicated, but really, why bother?
Two veal shanks, total weight one pound (300-400 calories each)
2 tsp olive oil (80 calories, not all goes into meal)
1 jar pasta sauce (about 200 calories, not all goes into meal)
1 cup vegetable stock (15 calories)
1 head cauliflower (about 60 calories)
1 can Cannelini beans (about 380 calories)
Browns shanks in olive oil inside pressure cooker. Add pasta sauce and stock, and seal pressure cooker. Cook under pressure for half an hour, and then release the pressure. Add cauliflower cut into florets and beans, reseal and cook for another 10 minutes under pressure. Serve with slotted spoon, leaving liquid in pressure cooker. Serves 2, about 600-700 calories when all is said and done.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can always slow braise in an oven at 300 for 2 hours, and then another 20 minutes to cook the cauliflower to tenderness. Make sure if you do this you have sufficient liquid to cover - add more stock if you don't. But get a pressure cooker. It is a pretty amazing tool, and does a great job of driving flavor into food - the cauliflower really picks up the flavor of the sauce this way.
Two veal shanks, total weight one pound (300-400 calories each)
2 tsp olive oil (80 calories, not all goes into meal)
1 jar pasta sauce (about 200 calories, not all goes into meal)
1 cup vegetable stock (15 calories)
1 head cauliflower (about 60 calories)
1 can Cannelini beans (about 380 calories)
Browns shanks in olive oil inside pressure cooker. Add pasta sauce and stock, and seal pressure cooker. Cook under pressure for half an hour, and then release the pressure. Add cauliflower cut into florets and beans, reseal and cook for another 10 minutes under pressure. Serve with slotted spoon, leaving liquid in pressure cooker. Serves 2, about 600-700 calories when all is said and done.
If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can always slow braise in an oven at 300 for 2 hours, and then another 20 minutes to cook the cauliflower to tenderness. Make sure if you do this you have sufficient liquid to cover - add more stock if you don't. But get a pressure cooker. It is a pretty amazing tool, and does a great job of driving flavor into food - the cauliflower really picks up the flavor of the sauce this way.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Delusions of Grandeur
I was talking to my brother-in-law (the one in significantly better shape than I am, as opposed to the one in the Army who is in significantly better shape than I am) this morning about entering a 10K in April, and he threw out a link for a beginner's triathlon in May. Figuring I needed to do things to keep this blog fresh, I set training for these things as intermediate goals of my training program. He runs at about a 7:30 pace, a pace at which I have only once in my life been within a minute of, and there was some significant dispute over the actual length of that race. So for me to even consider that I could run with him for 6.2 miles in about two months is pretty far fetched.
I was also reading the paper today and viewing the results of the Austin Marathon. I saw the 40 year old champion finished in 2:53, and of course I thought "I could do that" too, even though the only Marathon I ran was 80 pounds and 20 years ago, at a blistering 4:41.29 pace. If you take my normal 60 minute 5.2 mile runs, all I would need to do is cut my pace in half, and multiply the distance by 5, and bingo, I've got it. Quickly I realized that would be stupid, and I really have no business dragging my 6'6" frame anywhere near 26 miles. Please remind me of this should I get crazy in a half a year or so and decide I actually wanted to run a marathon.
Full of delusions and hope, I embark on my run today. My brother-in-law, from southern California, was complaining it was too freezing *** cold to run, whereas I, being from Cleveland, relished the 50 degree weather and the sunshine, and put on the long sleeve running shirt with my shorts.
Delusions are a funny thing. One minute they are ensconced in your mind, and thirty seconds into a run, poof, they are gone. As you may have gathered by now, I am not what you would call a "natural athlete". I'm more what you call "built for comfort." As a vintage car, it takes me a little to get my engine going, and it is somewhat painful when I start exercising. My runs are kind of like an awkward first date, where about five minutes into it you're wondering how in the heck you're going to make it through a whole hour this torture, and you're looking for every excuse in the book to bail out of there. But you plod on and suddenly you find some common ground, and you begin to enjoy the date, and then look forward to the next one.
Side note: I always hated the dating process. Ugh. Not having to date is one of the many reasons I am thankful to be married to my wonderful wife.
And so started my run today. Very painful. You could almost hear creaking in my joints as I got the lumbering beast that is my body warmed up. Oh, I feel obliged to advise on a pro tip here: before a run, do not eat a leftover meat loaf sandwich where you substitute Sriracha for ketchup.
Normally I make it about ten minutes at a "running" pace (largely thanks to the fact that minutes 5-10 of the run are downhill) before needing to scale it back and walk a little. I then mix running and walking, loping downhill and then hiking uphill. Recently it has been more running than walking, and even some running uphill, but never running past the 10 minute mark.
Today, I ran the whole hour. When it didn't feel good, I didn't stop, I just kept plowing forward. Granted, on some of the uphills I was less reminiscent of Roger Bannister and more of Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, but I was still running. I made good distance and felt good at the end, albeit with slightly heavy legs.
Maybe I can do a 7:30 mile by April...
I was also reading the paper today and viewing the results of the Austin Marathon. I saw the 40 year old champion finished in 2:53, and of course I thought "I could do that" too, even though the only Marathon I ran was 80 pounds and 20 years ago, at a blistering 4:41.29 pace. If you take my normal 60 minute 5.2 mile runs, all I would need to do is cut my pace in half, and multiply the distance by 5, and bingo, I've got it. Quickly I realized that would be stupid, and I really have no business dragging my 6'6" frame anywhere near 26 miles. Please remind me of this should I get crazy in a half a year or so and decide I actually wanted to run a marathon.
Full of delusions and hope, I embark on my run today. My brother-in-law, from southern California, was complaining it was too freezing *** cold to run, whereas I, being from Cleveland, relished the 50 degree weather and the sunshine, and put on the long sleeve running shirt with my shorts.
Delusions are a funny thing. One minute they are ensconced in your mind, and thirty seconds into a run, poof, they are gone. As you may have gathered by now, I am not what you would call a "natural athlete". I'm more what you call "built for comfort." As a vintage car, it takes me a little to get my engine going, and it is somewhat painful when I start exercising. My runs are kind of like an awkward first date, where about five minutes into it you're wondering how in the heck you're going to make it through a whole hour this torture, and you're looking for every excuse in the book to bail out of there. But you plod on and suddenly you find some common ground, and you begin to enjoy the date, and then look forward to the next one.
Side note: I always hated the dating process. Ugh. Not having to date is one of the many reasons I am thankful to be married to my wonderful wife.
And so started my run today. Very painful. You could almost hear creaking in my joints as I got the lumbering beast that is my body warmed up. Oh, I feel obliged to advise on a pro tip here: before a run, do not eat a leftover meat loaf sandwich where you substitute Sriracha for ketchup.
Normally I make it about ten minutes at a "running" pace (largely thanks to the fact that minutes 5-10 of the run are downhill) before needing to scale it back and walk a little. I then mix running and walking, loping downhill and then hiking uphill. Recently it has been more running than walking, and even some running uphill, but never running past the 10 minute mark.
Today, I ran the whole hour. When it didn't feel good, I didn't stop, I just kept plowing forward. Granted, on some of the uphills I was less reminiscent of Roger Bannister and more of Gene Gene the Dancing Machine, but I was still running. I made good distance and felt good at the end, albeit with slightly heavy legs.
Maybe I can do a 7:30 mile by April...
Saturday, February 13, 2010
TGI don't have to eat at Fridays every day
Today was an atypical Saturday. Instead of the usual breakfast and then "day of pain" at the gym, I had the kids for the morning since my wife was playing soccer this morning. My mom came over to take care of the baby, so I took the boys out to do some shopping for special Valentines Day gifts, like pans and dishtowels. I'm a hopeless romantic.
We decided to go to lunch at TGIFridays, as Chili's was too crowded. Yeah, I usually hate chain restaurants, but when shopping at the outlet malls, you really don't get many choices. Okay, I'll admit it, TGIFridays has some pretty delicious food for a chain restaurant, and their bar menu is pretty awesome if you're into that sort of thing. Being I'm with a 5 year old and a 4 year old, I'm not exactly going to be slamming back margaritas, so it was just food.
Never being concerned with the caloric content of my food, I didn't ever think much of their menu. Just a bunch of pretty good chain food. But now that I'm trying to deflate the spare tire, I took a closer study of the menu, and I was pretty appalled at how unhealthy everything on the menu was, including their salads. No wonder everyone in this country is fat. Not shockingly, they don't even offer nutrition information on their website.
We decided to go to lunch at TGIFridays, as Chili's was too crowded. Yeah, I usually hate chain restaurants, but when shopping at the outlet malls, you really don't get many choices. Okay, I'll admit it, TGIFridays has some pretty delicious food for a chain restaurant, and their bar menu is pretty awesome if you're into that sort of thing. Being I'm with a 5 year old and a 4 year old, I'm not exactly going to be slamming back margaritas, so it was just food.
Never being concerned with the caloric content of my food, I didn't ever think much of their menu. Just a bunch of pretty good chain food. But now that I'm trying to deflate the spare tire, I took a closer study of the menu, and I was pretty appalled at how unhealthy everything on the menu was, including their salads. No wonder everyone in this country is fat. Not shockingly, they don't even offer nutrition information on their website.
Anyway, I had a chicken sandwich, which was delicious, and a side salad, which was surprisingly properly (read: lightly) dressed. Of course, my sandwich had bacon and swiss on it, and a honey mustard sauce on a nice cibatta roll, but I picked around it to the point where I felt I was getting a healthy meal. The real temptation was not to polish off the remnants of the boys' buckets of dirt, chocolate pudding with crushed oreos and gummy worms. I did take a taste, and yeah, it is as good as it sounds.
This process is really opening my eyes to why I'm fat in the first place.
Anyway, I did my usual Saturday punishment at the gym, and it is getting pretty easy. 45 minutes of weights and then an hour on the elliptical. I pushed myself pretty hard, and didn't get the usual "inhaling a flamethrower" feeling. That felt good, mostly because it didn't feel bad.
Dinner tonight was Indian spiced cornish hen with tamarind yogurt sauce, and an Indian Brussels sprout pho.
For the chicken:
Rub two cornish game hens with Indian spices (I used Penzey's Singapore seasoning) and roast at 350 for about 30 minutes, about 300 calories each.
For the sauce:
1/2 cup plain yogurt, 50 calories
1 tbsp Tamarind
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp agave nectar
1 tbsp minced cilantro
Mix together and serve alongside chicken as a dipping sauce. The tartnness and creaminess should compliment the chicken nicely.
Indian Brussels Sprout Pho
2 tsp sesame oil, 85 calories
2 cups Brussels sprouts, quartered, 112 calories
1 cup quartered baby bella mushrooms, 20 calories
4 cups chicken stock, 60 calories
2 cups water
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp tumeric
handfull fresh curry leaves
2 tbsp chili paste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/4 box spaghetti, 400 calories
Brown sprouts in sesame oil, and add mushrooms, garlic, and ginger. Deglace pan with stock and add curry leaves, tumeric, chili paste, and soy sauce. Bring to boil and add pasta, cook according to package. Serve immediately, serves 2, 340 calories
Total calories for the whole meal is less than 700, or about 1/3 anything on the menu at Fridays. Oh, and a giant bowl of soup fills your stomach, so you don't get as hungry - added bonus.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thai acorn squash turkey meatloaf with peanut sauce
"Dude, seriously, did you just say you made Thai acorn squash turkey meatloaf? That couldn't possibly sound more disgusting."
On the contrary, it is actually quite delicious
One acorn squash (100 calories roughly)
One package ground turkey (1000 calories for 1.2 pounds)
1/3 cup coconut milk (150 calories, easy to substitute light for half the calories)
1 cup Panko (140 calories)
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (100 calories)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp schriacha (or more if you're brave)
1 tbsp chili paste (if you don't know what it is, look it up, it is awesome)
1 tbsp minced ginger
cilantro to taste
roast the acorn squash at 350 degrees until tender. Scoop from skin and mix with all other ingredients. Form to loaf and bake for about 40 minutes. It will be somewhat soft - if you like it firmer, add more panko (up to another cup), or just leave the squash out and serve it on the side (which may change how it holds together, so be careful). The loaf is four servings of about 375 calories each
Cirtus brown rice:
1/2 cup brown basmati rice (340 calories)
1/3 cup coconut milk (130 calories) <- again this can easily be cut
1/2 cup orange juice (60 calories)
1 cup water
1 tbsp minced ginger
zest of a lime
zest of an orange
Dump together and cook until done, about 40 minutes. Do I really need to tell you how to make rice? 260 calories per serving (serves two)
Peanut sauce:
1 tbsp coconut milk (35 calories)
1 tbsp peanut butter (90 calories)
1 tbsp schriacha
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
mix together over heat, about 70 calories per serving for a sauce
Put peanut sauce over meat loaf and serve with rice. About 700 calories for the whole meal.
Note that my wife is complaining that 700 calorie meals are insufficient. Hey, is it my fault she has a much better metabolism than me?
On the contrary, it is actually quite delicious
One acorn squash (100 calories roughly)
One package ground turkey (1000 calories for 1.2 pounds)
1/3 cup coconut milk (150 calories, easy to substitute light for half the calories)
1 cup Panko (140 calories)
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds (100 calories)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp schriacha (or more if you're brave)
1 tbsp chili paste (if you don't know what it is, look it up, it is awesome)
1 tbsp minced ginger
cilantro to taste
roast the acorn squash at 350 degrees until tender. Scoop from skin and mix with all other ingredients. Form to loaf and bake for about 40 minutes. It will be somewhat soft - if you like it firmer, add more panko (up to another cup), or just leave the squash out and serve it on the side (which may change how it holds together, so be careful). The loaf is four servings of about 375 calories each
Cirtus brown rice:
1/2 cup brown basmati rice (340 calories)
1/3 cup coconut milk (130 calories) <- again this can easily be cut
1/2 cup orange juice (60 calories)
1 cup water
1 tbsp minced ginger
zest of a lime
zest of an orange
Dump together and cook until done, about 40 minutes. Do I really need to tell you how to make rice? 260 calories per serving (serves two)
Peanut sauce:
1 tbsp coconut milk (35 calories)
1 tbsp peanut butter (90 calories)
1 tbsp schriacha
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
mix together over heat, about 70 calories per serving for a sauce
Put peanut sauce over meat loaf and serve with rice. About 700 calories for the whole meal.
Note that my wife is complaining that 700 calorie meals are insufficient. Hey, is it my fault she has a much better metabolism than me?
On the road again
When my family moved to Maryland when I was a kid, I remember walking into our otherwise empty new house and seeing cans of dog food in the pantry with a note that they were for "Cougar". The mystery of "Cougar" was soon revealed as a beautiful Golden Retriever appeared at our back door with the omnipresent "feed me" look so common in dogs. So, like the owners before us, we picked up the tradition of feeding Cougar.
The thing about Cougar is that he didn't stick around for long after he ate. He was likely off to the next sucker's house for yet another meal, and then to the next and to the next before returning home in time for dinner. I have no idea where Cougar actually lived, and somehow he managed not to become enormous and fat, likely from all the running he did to scrounge for his multiple daily meals.
I have driven from Austin to Houston easily 100 times since I moved down here 6 years ago, the most recent being this morning. During that time, like Cougar, I discovered every doughnut and kolache shop on 290, 71, and I-10, and optimized my route around where I wanted to forage. It made the trip pleasurable, knowing Chappell Hill, Hruska's, or Buck-ees was right around the corner with a tasty treat waiting for me. However, unlike Cougar, my snacking and foraging did not have a seemingly neutral impact on my fatness.
On that note, today my mission was to unlearn all my unhealthy places, and try to find healthier places to eat. This was no small task, because road fare is by definition cheap and high calorie, and the closest thing you get to a city along the journey is Giddings, population 5,105. As an aside, Giddings' motto is "experience hometown hospitality," in case you were curious.
Luckily, one of the tenets of my diet is that there is no bad food. So it was past the Krispy Kreme display at the Chevron to the breakfast tacos, where I could get a good balanced breakfast I could eat with one hand. It was a huge score to see the ladies making them right there in front of me, meaning they were as fresh as delicious. Grab a couple of Nutri-Grain and Special K bars, and I've got my snacks for the morning to go with my breakfast (limit one taco please, as there are approx 400 calories in a breakfast taco).
Lunch is a different problem, because it is hard to find something on the highway that isn't "white gravy" fare. "White gravy" fare is anything chicken fried and usually coated in white gravy, with a side of poached-to-death-and-drowned-in-butter vegetables. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing undelicious about chicken fried critter in white gravy, in fact it is all too delicious. But there is no way you get out of there for under 1000 calories, or much much worse.
I went with the breaded chicken tenders when I stopped. Not my ideal choice, but there is a lot of protein in them, and a balance of carbs as well to keep me going. I figured two of them had about 400 calories in them (a fair estimate) and although higher in fat, the almost 20g of protein is a good fix.
By the way, it is incredibly difficult to work up the energy to work out after six hours in the car (3 hours each way), especially when I get up at 4:30 to make the trip. But I can't make excuses, so I got in the pool and swam for an hour. Three 10 minute sessions of crawl and breaststroke to mix it up and work different muscle groups. It actually energized me to swim a bit.
On, and it looks like the 230.8 weight was an anomaly, as it seemed to be at the time. The next day I weighed in at a more reasonable 232, and today it was 231.4. Who knows what caused the low reading, but I'm still making progress toward my goals, so I'm happy. I hope to be under 230 a week from tomorrow, which will mark the first time I've been under that mark in 10 years or more.
The thing about Cougar is that he didn't stick around for long after he ate. He was likely off to the next sucker's house for yet another meal, and then to the next and to the next before returning home in time for dinner. I have no idea where Cougar actually lived, and somehow he managed not to become enormous and fat, likely from all the running he did to scrounge for his multiple daily meals.
I have driven from Austin to Houston easily 100 times since I moved down here 6 years ago, the most recent being this morning. During that time, like Cougar, I discovered every doughnut and kolache shop on 290, 71, and I-10, and optimized my route around where I wanted to forage. It made the trip pleasurable, knowing Chappell Hill, Hruska's, or Buck-ees was right around the corner with a tasty treat waiting for me. However, unlike Cougar, my snacking and foraging did not have a seemingly neutral impact on my fatness.
On that note, today my mission was to unlearn all my unhealthy places, and try to find healthier places to eat. This was no small task, because road fare is by definition cheap and high calorie, and the closest thing you get to a city along the journey is Giddings, population 5,105. As an aside, Giddings' motto is "experience hometown hospitality," in case you were curious.
Luckily, one of the tenets of my diet is that there is no bad food. So it was past the Krispy Kreme display at the Chevron to the breakfast tacos, where I could get a good balanced breakfast I could eat with one hand. It was a huge score to see the ladies making them right there in front of me, meaning they were as fresh as delicious. Grab a couple of Nutri-Grain and Special K bars, and I've got my snacks for the morning to go with my breakfast (limit one taco please, as there are approx 400 calories in a breakfast taco).
Lunch is a different problem, because it is hard to find something on the highway that isn't "white gravy" fare. "White gravy" fare is anything chicken fried and usually coated in white gravy, with a side of poached-to-death-and-drowned-in-butter vegetables. Now don't get me wrong, there is nothing undelicious about chicken fried critter in white gravy, in fact it is all too delicious. But there is no way you get out of there for under 1000 calories, or much much worse.
I went with the breaded chicken tenders when I stopped. Not my ideal choice, but there is a lot of protein in them, and a balance of carbs as well to keep me going. I figured two of them had about 400 calories in them (a fair estimate) and although higher in fat, the almost 20g of protein is a good fix.
By the way, it is incredibly difficult to work up the energy to work out after six hours in the car (3 hours each way), especially when I get up at 4:30 to make the trip. But I can't make excuses, so I got in the pool and swam for an hour. Three 10 minute sessions of crawl and breaststroke to mix it up and work different muscle groups. It actually energized me to swim a bit.
On, and it looks like the 230.8 weight was an anomaly, as it seemed to be at the time. The next day I weighed in at a more reasonable 232, and today it was 231.4. Who knows what caused the low reading, but I'm still making progress toward my goals, so I'm happy. I hope to be under 230 a week from tomorrow, which will mark the first time I've been under that mark in 10 years or more.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Insane in the membrane
Lost: one me.
I just got back from a run in a 39 degree steady drizzle, that turned into a pretty good rain when I was the furthest point from my home. Well, "run" is a pretty strong word, because the drivers that passed me were not under any sort of misconception that Mercury himself had descended from Mount Olympus to run through my neighborhood. They were more likely thinking "what in the world is that lanky dork doing outside in this awful weather - he must be nuts." And you know what, before I started this whole thing, I would think similar pejoratives at anyone I saw running in this weather.
But now I'm that guy. I actually find myself excited in the mornings for my workout activity whatever it is, and looking forward to it throughout the day. This is crazy talk coming from a guy who only a few months ago would be hesitant to leave the couch unless he was going to the doughnut shop.
I think part of the pleasure comes from the elimination of the pain. I've been taking care of myself so that I don't break or wear down, and slowly but surely I have been increasing my stamina. I'm "running" faster now - I run for half an hour, and then head home on the same route to make an hour run, and I'm finding that the amount of time I walk is dramatically reduced, and the distance I travel is increasing with every run.
I have become the guy that used to piss me off. I guess he used to piss me off because I didn't think I could become him, and didn't see any reason to put that sort of effort into physical fitness. Funny that only going through the journey do I realize why to do it.
By the way, a couple of points for people in my neighborhood (not that any of them read this):
1) Walter is dead. Deal with it and take all the posters down. A domesticated housecat missing for over a month isn't coming back, and your posters are starting to run and look horrible. There are coyotes that roam the neighborhood, and every one of them I have talked to names "domesticated housecat" as their favorite midnight snack. Walter isn't coming back. Oh, by the way, why put his name on the poster? "Oh, look, the cat came to me when I called it Walter - this must be him!" I don't think so.
2) While I'm telling people who aren't going to read this what to do, I may as well tell you to pick up after your dog. There is poop all over the neighborhood, sometimes on the sidewalk even. If you're too lazy to pick up after your dog, you shouldn't have one. Oh, special hate to the person who did pick up after their dog, but left the baggie of poop sitting in the grass. Its been there for months, and it will never degrade. You, whoever you are, suck.
3) The dead animals in the neighborhood are pretty nasty. I get the "pleasure" of a forensic education seeing how long it takes them to decompose. Someone hit a skunk recently - that should be fun over the next few weeks. Stupid buzzards laying down on the job...
Okay, enough of that. I'll close with a bit of good news: I'm down 4" on the widest part of my belly. 4" of pure flab gone. Yay me.
I just got back from a run in a 39 degree steady drizzle, that turned into a pretty good rain when I was the furthest point from my home. Well, "run" is a pretty strong word, because the drivers that passed me were not under any sort of misconception that Mercury himself had descended from Mount Olympus to run through my neighborhood. They were more likely thinking "what in the world is that lanky dork doing outside in this awful weather - he must be nuts." And you know what, before I started this whole thing, I would think similar pejoratives at anyone I saw running in this weather.
But now I'm that guy. I actually find myself excited in the mornings for my workout activity whatever it is, and looking forward to it throughout the day. This is crazy talk coming from a guy who only a few months ago would be hesitant to leave the couch unless he was going to the doughnut shop.
I think part of the pleasure comes from the elimination of the pain. I've been taking care of myself so that I don't break or wear down, and slowly but surely I have been increasing my stamina. I'm "running" faster now - I run for half an hour, and then head home on the same route to make an hour run, and I'm finding that the amount of time I walk is dramatically reduced, and the distance I travel is increasing with every run.
I have become the guy that used to piss me off. I guess he used to piss me off because I didn't think I could become him, and didn't see any reason to put that sort of effort into physical fitness. Funny that only going through the journey do I realize why to do it.
By the way, a couple of points for people in my neighborhood (not that any of them read this):
1) Walter is dead. Deal with it and take all the posters down. A domesticated housecat missing for over a month isn't coming back, and your posters are starting to run and look horrible. There are coyotes that roam the neighborhood, and every one of them I have talked to names "domesticated housecat" as their favorite midnight snack. Walter isn't coming back. Oh, by the way, why put his name on the poster? "Oh, look, the cat came to me when I called it Walter - this must be him!" I don't think so.
2) While I'm telling people who aren't going to read this what to do, I may as well tell you to pick up after your dog. There is poop all over the neighborhood, sometimes on the sidewalk even. If you're too lazy to pick up after your dog, you shouldn't have one. Oh, special hate to the person who did pick up after their dog, but left the baggie of poop sitting in the grass. Its been there for months, and it will never degrade. You, whoever you are, suck.
3) The dead animals in the neighborhood are pretty nasty. I get the "pleasure" of a forensic education seeing how long it takes them to decompose. Someone hit a skunk recently - that should be fun over the next few weeks. Stupid buzzards laying down on the job...
Okay, enough of that. I'll close with a bit of good news: I'm down 4" on the widest part of my belly. 4" of pure flab gone. Yay me.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Steelhead Trout and Zucchini Pasta
Tonight's dinner was Steelhead trout crusted with pistachios, capers, and kalamata olives with a side of zucchini and pasta.
Trout - 120 calories for 6 ounces or 140 calories for 8 ounces
Pistachio crust - 85 calories for 1/8 cup of crushed pistachios
Kalamata olives - 4 olives makes 34 calories
Capers - about 4 calories
Total for dish: 263 calories
Finely chop pistachios, olives, and capers, and mix together. Coat trout with a light rub of mustard and then press crust onto filet. Roast in oven at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Pasta - 210 calories for 1/8 of a box
1 1/2 small zucchini - 50 calories
3 green olives - 25 calories
1/8 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil - 30 calories
1/8 cup red onion - 8 calories
2 artichoke hearts - 16 calories
1/2 tbsp olive oil - 60 calories
1 tbsp italian parsley
1 tbsp minced garlic
Total calories for side dish: 400
Boil pasta, and chop everything into coarse chunks. Sautee onions until translucent, and then add garlic, olives, and sundried tomatoes for a minute or two. Add zucchini, sautee until tender and then add chopped artichoke hearts and parsley. Add pasta to pan and let it absorb flavors for a minute or two before serving.
Total calories for dinner: 663
It is possible to eat well and diet.
Trout - 120 calories for 6 ounces or 140 calories for 8 ounces
Pistachio crust - 85 calories for 1/8 cup of crushed pistachios
Kalamata olives - 4 olives makes 34 calories
Capers - about 4 calories
Total for dish: 263 calories
Finely chop pistachios, olives, and capers, and mix together. Coat trout with a light rub of mustard and then press crust onto filet. Roast in oven at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.
Pasta - 210 calories for 1/8 of a box
1 1/2 small zucchini - 50 calories
3 green olives - 25 calories
1/8 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil - 30 calories
1/8 cup red onion - 8 calories
2 artichoke hearts - 16 calories
1/2 tbsp olive oil - 60 calories
1 tbsp italian parsley
1 tbsp minced garlic
Total calories for side dish: 400
Boil pasta, and chop everything into coarse chunks. Sautee onions until translucent, and then add garlic, olives, and sundried tomatoes for a minute or two. Add zucchini, sautee until tender and then add chopped artichoke hearts and parsley. Add pasta to pan and let it absorb flavors for a minute or two before serving.
Total calories for dinner: 663
It is possible to eat well and diet.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wow... this crazy thing is working
I went to the gym today for a swim during lunch. After the Super Bowl and a nice steak dinner with wine with my wife last night, I was hoping for maybe a one pound loss from last week, and thinking I'd be lucky to be even. So imagine my surprise when I step on the scale and see 230.8 (I even stepped on and off a number of times to check if it was working properly). That's nearly 6 pounds in a week. This is almost 12 pounds down this year, in about 6 weeks.
Clearly this is a sign I am boosting my overall metabolism. I feel more energetic throughout the day, and my mental state is vastly improved, but I had no idea my body had snapped into gear the way it has. It really is amazing that this is working.
My diet seems to be working well for me too, both nutritionally and taste wize. A "bad" day for me is still probably 1200-1500 calories less than a "good" day before I was being careful with my intake. I'm also eating pretty good food - yesterday for dinner I had a steak (filet), braised radicchio, and roasted butternut squash, with a delicious cab. I'm also starting to settle into better breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.
Initially, I started this blog to bitch about all the food I miss. Pie, doughnuts, cake, etc. What I've discovered is that I can be happy without these foods, and I can partake in them every once in a while without much harm.
It has been an interesting process, and the discipline required isn't that much. Do a little math before you eat (along with a little googling to find out the nutrition information on food), and make sure you reserve an hour a day to get some exercise. It is almost fun. Almost - we're not going to go that far.
Clearly this is a sign I am boosting my overall metabolism. I feel more energetic throughout the day, and my mental state is vastly improved, but I had no idea my body had snapped into gear the way it has. It really is amazing that this is working.
My diet seems to be working well for me too, both nutritionally and taste wize. A "bad" day for me is still probably 1200-1500 calories less than a "good" day before I was being careful with my intake. I'm also eating pretty good food - yesterday for dinner I had a steak (filet), braised radicchio, and roasted butternut squash, with a delicious cab. I'm also starting to settle into better breakfasts, lunches, and snacks.
Initially, I started this blog to bitch about all the food I miss. Pie, doughnuts, cake, etc. What I've discovered is that I can be happy without these foods, and I can partake in them every once in a while without much harm.
It has been an interesting process, and the discipline required isn't that much. Do a little math before you eat (along with a little googling to find out the nutrition information on food), and make sure you reserve an hour a day to get some exercise. It is almost fun. Almost - we're not going to go that far.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Super Bowl
One of the toughest things is to be mesh healthy eating with an active social life. You go out with people, you don't want to be "that guy" - the guy that orders a single celery stick or insists the chef prepare his meal in a specific PITA manner to meet his dietary needs. No, you want to maintain your normal social life, because what good is being in shape if nobody wants to hang out with you?
So how do you balance health and frivolity? I was at a birthday party yesterday and the host bought a special cake just for the adults. Have to eat a piece, right? I'm not sure if it was the self-denial, or if it was just really good, but that small slice of cake tasted better than anything I've eaten in a long time. I just accepted I needed to eat it, accepted that I wanted to also so I wouldn't be a baby about it, and then forewent my afternoon snack. No big deal, but I did avoid most of the other snacks that were lying around.
Today is the Super Bowl, and I have people coming over. Again, not wanting to be "that guy" I'm putting out real food for people. I love to cook, and it would be insulting to people if I didn't provide real food for them. So I'm putting out shrimp cocktail, wings, popcorn, guacamole, and some other snacks. And I will definitely have a beer or three - you can't watch the Super Bowl with a club soda and lime.
I figure that I can't be at a 1,200 calorie deficit every day, and as long as I am conscious of what I eat I can still keep things in check. One wing is 150 calories, but 4 large shrimp are just 22. A cup of popcorn is 64 calories, but 7 tortilla chips are 150 calories. A good scoop of guacamole is about 50 calories. Light beer is 100 calories for something potable. I can do the math and keep things in check, while still having a good time.
It will be nice to treat myself. Food tastes so good to me right now that my array of bar food will surely taste heavenly. A good reward for my monastic lifestyle.
So how do you balance health and frivolity? I was at a birthday party yesterday and the host bought a special cake just for the adults. Have to eat a piece, right? I'm not sure if it was the self-denial, or if it was just really good, but that small slice of cake tasted better than anything I've eaten in a long time. I just accepted I needed to eat it, accepted that I wanted to also so I wouldn't be a baby about it, and then forewent my afternoon snack. No big deal, but I did avoid most of the other snacks that were lying around.
Today is the Super Bowl, and I have people coming over. Again, not wanting to be "that guy" I'm putting out real food for people. I love to cook, and it would be insulting to people if I didn't provide real food for them. So I'm putting out shrimp cocktail, wings, popcorn, guacamole, and some other snacks. And I will definitely have a beer or three - you can't watch the Super Bowl with a club soda and lime.
I figure that I can't be at a 1,200 calorie deficit every day, and as long as I am conscious of what I eat I can still keep things in check. One wing is 150 calories, but 4 large shrimp are just 22. A cup of popcorn is 64 calories, but 7 tortilla chips are 150 calories. A good scoop of guacamole is about 50 calories. Light beer is 100 calories for something potable. I can do the math and keep things in check, while still having a good time.
It will be nice to treat myself. Food tastes so good to me right now that my array of bar food will surely taste heavenly. A good reward for my monastic lifestyle.
Miscalculation
First of all, the good news: the revolution has been quelled. My system seems finally to have accepted its new lower-calorie diet and higher-calorie burn as the new "normal". I still feel hunger often during the day, but it is more of a dull headache of the stomach than the intestinal migraines I was experiencing earlier. So that is good I guess.
In conversing with my brother-in-law who is slightly more fit than me (in a similar manner Heather Locklear is "slightly" more attractive than Rosie O'Donnell) he indicated that you're not supposed to make radical caloric reductions to your diet, and instead make gradual changes to get to your goals. This little tidbit of information would certainly have been useful some time ago, but really, what would I have done with it? Only had two doughnuts for breakfast because I'm on a diet and trying to cut my calories? Limit myself to a double stacker and a small shake for lunch? That doesn't make sense.
Fact is the awareness of my caloric input was about 50% of the problem. Sure, I had a feeling I was eating more than I should, but I also was lying to myself that as long as it was early in the day, I could burn it off. My old diet was when good, very good, and when bad, very bad. Needed to attack it with an axe and not a scalpel.
Okay, so maybe cutting calories in half was a little too radical. How was I to know? The internet isn't exactly helpful in this regard - most links you find want you to pay to divulge the secrets of weight loss, or want you to pay to see a program like I'm laying out here. Millions of links on the subject with tons of information and twice as much more misinformation, I went back to the one thing I could trust: math. everything else would need to fall in place.
So while my transition period was a little rough, my "cold turkey" diet (you don't even realize how sadly and ironically appropriate that term is) approach got me to where I needed to be quickly and safely. Which is all that really counts.
In conversing with my brother-in-law who is slightly more fit than me (in a similar manner Heather Locklear is "slightly" more attractive than Rosie O'Donnell) he indicated that you're not supposed to make radical caloric reductions to your diet, and instead make gradual changes to get to your goals. This little tidbit of information would certainly have been useful some time ago, but really, what would I have done with it? Only had two doughnuts for breakfast because I'm on a diet and trying to cut my calories? Limit myself to a double stacker and a small shake for lunch? That doesn't make sense.
Fact is the awareness of my caloric input was about 50% of the problem. Sure, I had a feeling I was eating more than I should, but I also was lying to myself that as long as it was early in the day, I could burn it off. My old diet was when good, very good, and when bad, very bad. Needed to attack it with an axe and not a scalpel.
Okay, so maybe cutting calories in half was a little too radical. How was I to know? The internet isn't exactly helpful in this regard - most links you find want you to pay to divulge the secrets of weight loss, or want you to pay to see a program like I'm laying out here. Millions of links on the subject with tons of information and twice as much more misinformation, I went back to the one thing I could trust: math. everything else would need to fall in place.
So while my transition period was a little rough, my "cold turkey" diet (you don't even realize how sadly and ironically appropriate that term is) approach got me to where I needed to be quickly and safely. Which is all that really counts.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Exercism
You'll probably notice a theme here that I will talk about food a lot. So I'll take a break from that to talk about the harder part of the health regiment - exercising regularly.
Exercise and me go together like beer and ice cream. Okay, so there is a wonderful thing called a Guinness float (which is exactly what it sounds like) and Guinness ice cream is good too, but you get my point. Anyway, my history has always been to get too ambitious on a program, make excuses for why I can't go to the gym, and then end the program quicker than a Hollywood marriage.
So my challenge in developing a new program was to find a way I could convince myself to succeed, or more correctly, talk myself out of failing. The only way I could do this was to strip all of my pride out of the situation. People get very self-conscious when they go to the gym, and for good reason. All around you are people who look like they live there, that clearly have the whole working-out thing down to a science. You pick the 25 pound dumbbells off the rack while Hercules is taking the 90s out to do the same exercise. You're walking on the treadmill while Athena next to you has it at 8 MPH. Am I even doing this exercise right? Do I look stupid? It is humbling.
The worst thing you can do is try to keep up appearances, and stress about how it looks. Nobody gives a crap about you and what you're doing. So just do it, and make sure you don't burn yourself out. Too often I fry my muscles working them too hard at the beginning, setting me back for days and giving me "dead legs" that don't allow me to do any cardio at all. So once I kill my legs, I give myself an excuse to fail, and then failure becomes the norm. Next thing you know the bench is replaced by the couch, and we're back where we started.
My goal this time is to keep my heart rate up for as long as I can, an hour a day when doing cardio and an hour and a half total when lifting. Starting out slow, walking, doing half sets if I get tired... just keep moving and keep going forward. Eventually my stamina and strength will increase, but I don't need to kill myself right now to get there. This mentality has helped me sustain and helps me do that critical hour per day, which is all I need to focus on right now.
Critical to this is not making excuses. I'm the master at making excuses - hey, I've been in sales for years. Unfortunately, my excuses for myself only give me reasons to suck, and pathways to failure. Yeah, they're good excuses - I can't fool myself that easily - but they are still excuses, and that has to be inexcusable.
Last night at the gym while on the elliptical machine one of the employees of the gym came up to talk to me. His premise was that I looked goofy on the thing due to my height, like a baby giraffe on a frozen pond I imagine, but my spidey sense was tingling that he actually wanted to upsell me on one of their programs. So he asked me a lot of questions about what I was doing, and I answered honestly, and he let me know at the end that I was on the right track, had thought things through well, and (most importantly) didn't try to sell me anything. It felt good to have the right answers, and actually be doing those things instead of having them as a "vision".
Oh, the scale at the gym gave me good news as well. 6 pounds down in a month, which was very comforting.
I've actually evolved to the point where going to the gym or on a run doesn't suck for me. My wife has always told me that she needs to run, and enjoys doing it. I never understood how running could be anything but painful, but now I do see where it could be pleasant. It isn't quite pleasant yet, mind you, but it isn't horrible either, which is a huge step in the right direction. If I play my cards right I'll become addicted to exercise. Which will make these changes more of a life change and less of a temporary fad, which is the goal.
Exercise and me go together like beer and ice cream. Okay, so there is a wonderful thing called a Guinness float (which is exactly what it sounds like) and Guinness ice cream is good too, but you get my point. Anyway, my history has always been to get too ambitious on a program, make excuses for why I can't go to the gym, and then end the program quicker than a Hollywood marriage.
So my challenge in developing a new program was to find a way I could convince myself to succeed, or more correctly, talk myself out of failing. The only way I could do this was to strip all of my pride out of the situation. People get very self-conscious when they go to the gym, and for good reason. All around you are people who look like they live there, that clearly have the whole working-out thing down to a science. You pick the 25 pound dumbbells off the rack while Hercules is taking the 90s out to do the same exercise. You're walking on the treadmill while Athena next to you has it at 8 MPH. Am I even doing this exercise right? Do I look stupid? It is humbling.
The worst thing you can do is try to keep up appearances, and stress about how it looks. Nobody gives a crap about you and what you're doing. So just do it, and make sure you don't burn yourself out. Too often I fry my muscles working them too hard at the beginning, setting me back for days and giving me "dead legs" that don't allow me to do any cardio at all. So once I kill my legs, I give myself an excuse to fail, and then failure becomes the norm. Next thing you know the bench is replaced by the couch, and we're back where we started.
My goal this time is to keep my heart rate up for as long as I can, an hour a day when doing cardio and an hour and a half total when lifting. Starting out slow, walking, doing half sets if I get tired... just keep moving and keep going forward. Eventually my stamina and strength will increase, but I don't need to kill myself right now to get there. This mentality has helped me sustain and helps me do that critical hour per day, which is all I need to focus on right now.
Critical to this is not making excuses. I'm the master at making excuses - hey, I've been in sales for years. Unfortunately, my excuses for myself only give me reasons to suck, and pathways to failure. Yeah, they're good excuses - I can't fool myself that easily - but they are still excuses, and that has to be inexcusable.
Last night at the gym while on the elliptical machine one of the employees of the gym came up to talk to me. His premise was that I looked goofy on the thing due to my height, like a baby giraffe on a frozen pond I imagine, but my spidey sense was tingling that he actually wanted to upsell me on one of their programs. So he asked me a lot of questions about what I was doing, and I answered honestly, and he let me know at the end that I was on the right track, had thought things through well, and (most importantly) didn't try to sell me anything. It felt good to have the right answers, and actually be doing those things instead of having them as a "vision".
Oh, the scale at the gym gave me good news as well. 6 pounds down in a month, which was very comforting.
I've actually evolved to the point where going to the gym or on a run doesn't suck for me. My wife has always told me that she needs to run, and enjoys doing it. I never understood how running could be anything but painful, but now I do see where it could be pleasant. It isn't quite pleasant yet, mind you, but it isn't horrible either, which is a huge step in the right direction. If I play my cards right I'll become addicted to exercise. Which will make these changes more of a life change and less of a temporary fad, which is the goal.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Transition period
Is it worth the waiting for?
If we live 'til eighty four
All we ever get is gruel!
Ev'ry day we say our prayer --
Will they change the bill of fare?
Still we get the same old gruel!
There is not a cust, not a crumb can we find,
Can we beg, can we borrow, or cadge,
But there's nothing to stop us from getting a thrill
When we all close our eyes and imagine
Food, glorious food!
Hot sausage and mustard!
While we're in the mood --
Cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloys!
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys --
In-di-gestion!
Ah, transitioning from my wonderful, flavorful, and filling diet to a reduced calorie offering has been fun to say the least. And by "fun", of course, I mean "horrible".
In an effort to get to a 1000+ calorie deficit, I try to stick to about 2000 calories of food a day. 400 calories for breakfast or lunch, some 100-200 calorie snacks here and there, and about 500-800 calories for dinner. Sounds simple enough, and if you look at what you can eat for 400 calories it almost sounds like a diet you can follow. You can have two whole bowls of cereal and a banana for breakfast, and a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch. Not bad right?
Well, actually, it is pretty bad. You see, I'm not exactly what you call a Ferrari, a finely tuned machine that performs well on premium gasoline. I'm more like Mater from Cars - an old rusty tow truck that burns a steady diet of diesel fuel. And when you put premium gas into a diesel, it isn't good.
My diesel fuel is doughnuts, kolaches, double stackers, milk shakes, beef n cheddars, and bacon. You take that away along with the other things that led to my pre-diet caloric surplus, and the premium fuel I am now eating starts to disagree with my engine. Note that I'm also asking my engine to work harder than ever on top of this, which isn't helping matters at all.
At first I thought this was temporary. My stomach is used to eating until packed, so I expected it to be a little distended (and trust me, it is a little distended). After a week, though, I thought it would start to realize what's up, conform to the plan, and get on board with what I am doing. King George III made a similar miscalculation with the American colonies, and got a similar result.
Yes, instead of reaching some sort of inner karmic balance with my new quest for fitness, my body reared up in a revolution that would make Thomas Paine proud. At first, it was pangs of hunger. Then it was painful pangs of hunger. And then it was crippling pangs of hunger. And then it started to get serious. When the hunger pangs didn't work, my internal organs got together and issued my body a full Declaration of Independence. If you put your ear to my gut you could almost hear it crying the famous anthem of protest from Twisted Sister: We're not gonna take it, no we ain't gonna take it, no we're not gonna take it anymore.
And they didn't take it. I'll spare the gory details, but suffice it to say I am fighting a full out internal revolution. It cripples my abilities to exercise, and puts me in severe pain at time. But I'm fighting through it. I'm not going to let the terrorists inside my body win. I'm going to continue to eat healthy and exercise until the rebellion is put down.
Let them eat rice cakes.
If we live 'til eighty four
All we ever get is gruel!
Ev'ry day we say our prayer --
Will they change the bill of fare?
Still we get the same old gruel!
There is not a cust, not a crumb can we find,
Can we beg, can we borrow, or cadge,
But there's nothing to stop us from getting a thrill
When we all close our eyes and imagine
Food, glorious food!
Hot sausage and mustard!
While we're in the mood --
Cold jelly and custard!
Pease pudding and saveloys!
What next is the question?
Rich gentlemen have it, boys --
In-di-gestion!
Ah, transitioning from my wonderful, flavorful, and filling diet to a reduced calorie offering has been fun to say the least. And by "fun", of course, I mean "horrible".
In an effort to get to a 1000+ calorie deficit, I try to stick to about 2000 calories of food a day. 400 calories for breakfast or lunch, some 100-200 calorie snacks here and there, and about 500-800 calories for dinner. Sounds simple enough, and if you look at what you can eat for 400 calories it almost sounds like a diet you can follow. You can have two whole bowls of cereal and a banana for breakfast, and a turkey and cheese sandwich for lunch. Not bad right?
Well, actually, it is pretty bad. You see, I'm not exactly what you call a Ferrari, a finely tuned machine that performs well on premium gasoline. I'm more like Mater from Cars - an old rusty tow truck that burns a steady diet of diesel fuel. And when you put premium gas into a diesel, it isn't good.
My diesel fuel is doughnuts, kolaches, double stackers, milk shakes, beef n cheddars, and bacon. You take that away along with the other things that led to my pre-diet caloric surplus, and the premium fuel I am now eating starts to disagree with my engine. Note that I'm also asking my engine to work harder than ever on top of this, which isn't helping matters at all.
At first I thought this was temporary. My stomach is used to eating until packed, so I expected it to be a little distended (and trust me, it is a little distended). After a week, though, I thought it would start to realize what's up, conform to the plan, and get on board with what I am doing. King George III made a similar miscalculation with the American colonies, and got a similar result.
Yes, instead of reaching some sort of inner karmic balance with my new quest for fitness, my body reared up in a revolution that would make Thomas Paine proud. At first, it was pangs of hunger. Then it was painful pangs of hunger. And then it was crippling pangs of hunger. And then it started to get serious. When the hunger pangs didn't work, my internal organs got together and issued my body a full Declaration of Independence. If you put your ear to my gut you could almost hear it crying the famous anthem of protest from Twisted Sister: We're not gonna take it, no we ain't gonna take it, no we're not gonna take it anymore.
And they didn't take it. I'll spare the gory details, but suffice it to say I am fighting a full out internal revolution. It cripples my abilities to exercise, and puts me in severe pain at time. But I'm fighting through it. I'm not going to let the terrorists inside my body win. I'm going to continue to eat healthy and exercise until the rebellion is put down.
Let them eat rice cakes.
Background and History
Before I get into the meat and potatoes of this blog, I wanted to give you a little background on me and why I am writing this in the first place.
I was born a skinny baby 39 1/2 years ago, grew up a skinny boy, became a skinny teenager, and went to college a skinny young man. I could always eat whatever I wanted and found it impossible to put on any sort of weight. You could count my ribs up to and past my 16th birthday, and it was always a source of angst for me that I was so scrawny. I tried and tried to put on weight - ate fatty foods, went to the gym and only lifted weights skipping all cardio... nothing seemed to work.
Apparently, at some time that all changed.
My first driver's license had me at a gangly 6' 5" 140 lbs. 16.6 BMI for those of you scoring at home, which puts me square in the "damn son, you got to eat more" range of the scale. For the next eight years I was able to put on about 10 pounds a year, mostly healthy, until I hit a fairly healthy 220 pounds. I say "fairly" healthy because I did indeed have some good muscle structure, but I wasn't a workout fiend by any stretch of the imagination.
For the next ten years I hovered around the 220 mark, still (in my mind) a little undersized, but still reluctant to take any drastic action like go to the gym on a frequent basis. Then came the one word that is the bane of dieters everywhere: Hershey.
Back then, I was a consultant and spent about 4-5 days a week on the road. The life of the consultant isn't easy - you wake up early to beat your clients into the office, you stay until they all leave and later, then you go out with all the other consultants and drink, sometimes a tad too much. Lather, rinse, repeat. Not much there to build a healthy you.
At this time in my life, I got assigned to work on a project at Hershey. You would drive in to town starving from the damage you did to your body the night before and instantly get captivated by the smell of chocolate in the air. Then you'd go into long meetings where there would be giant bowls of free chocolate on the table, and you'd eat it because, well, who wouldn't? At some point everyone would "make peace with the chocolate" but by then it was often too late.
We did have a good, motivated, and healthy crew there that used peer pressure to drag my worthless butt to the gym more often than I ever went in my life. So I convinced myself that when I bulked up to 240 it was good bulk, because partially it was true. I was indeed stronger than I ever had been, but I was also introduced to a new friend - my belly.
"Junior" (pronounced with a Spanish accent) was my pet name for my gut, because if I pooched it out just enough I could make myself look pregnant and get a few cheap laughs at my expense. "Junior" was a new friend, and at first I didn't mind him, but like an uninvited houseguest he soon wore out his welcome. After I left Hershey, my weight went down to the 225-230 range for a number of years, largely due to muscle mass erosion, with Junior following me wherever I went.
Fast forward to 2009. In the missing years my passion for food and wine has evolved to making those a hobby of mine. I love cooking gourmet food, I love experimenting in the kitchen, and I love wine. I met the love of my life in 2000 who has given me three beautiful children, and managed to stay in awesome shape despite the pressures of being a mother and our passion for food and wine.
In late 2009 I turned 39 1/2 and think to myself how great it would be to get in shape by my 40th birthday. I start the usual weak routine of eating whatever I want still but working out occasionally, and don't have many positive results (shocking, I know). People warn me I need to set goals and have metrics and have a plan... blah blah blah, all the stuff i tell my consulting customers if they want to improve their businesses. But I'm the same skinny kid that can't gain weight, so they don't apply to me. I can do this without any of that.
Wrong.
One month in and I realize I'm failing. I'm 243 pounds, not muscular at all. Junior is starting to make my clothes not fit, which is bad. It is time to take the advice of those that suggested goals and metrics.
I sit down and do the math and discover my body fat is in the 26% range. Yikes. I also learn important things about the way a body works. 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories. So if you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you eat in a day. Your body naturally burns 12x its weight in calories a day just for living.
So my strategy is to burn 1,000+ more calories than I consume every day. That means limiting my calories, and doing at least an hour of exercise every day. Within 120 days I should have a brand new me.
I'm three weeks into this, and this blog will chronicle my journey. We'll get into the details with the next post.
I was born a skinny baby 39 1/2 years ago, grew up a skinny boy, became a skinny teenager, and went to college a skinny young man. I could always eat whatever I wanted and found it impossible to put on any sort of weight. You could count my ribs up to and past my 16th birthday, and it was always a source of angst for me that I was so scrawny. I tried and tried to put on weight - ate fatty foods, went to the gym and only lifted weights skipping all cardio... nothing seemed to work.
Apparently, at some time that all changed.
My first driver's license had me at a gangly 6' 5" 140 lbs. 16.6 BMI for those of you scoring at home, which puts me square in the "damn son, you got to eat more" range of the scale. For the next eight years I was able to put on about 10 pounds a year, mostly healthy, until I hit a fairly healthy 220 pounds. I say "fairly" healthy because I did indeed have some good muscle structure, but I wasn't a workout fiend by any stretch of the imagination.
For the next ten years I hovered around the 220 mark, still (in my mind) a little undersized, but still reluctant to take any drastic action like go to the gym on a frequent basis. Then came the one word that is the bane of dieters everywhere: Hershey.
Back then, I was a consultant and spent about 4-5 days a week on the road. The life of the consultant isn't easy - you wake up early to beat your clients into the office, you stay until they all leave and later, then you go out with all the other consultants and drink, sometimes a tad too much. Lather, rinse, repeat. Not much there to build a healthy you.
At this time in my life, I got assigned to work on a project at Hershey. You would drive in to town starving from the damage you did to your body the night before and instantly get captivated by the smell of chocolate in the air. Then you'd go into long meetings where there would be giant bowls of free chocolate on the table, and you'd eat it because, well, who wouldn't? At some point everyone would "make peace with the chocolate" but by then it was often too late.
We did have a good, motivated, and healthy crew there that used peer pressure to drag my worthless butt to the gym more often than I ever went in my life. So I convinced myself that when I bulked up to 240 it was good bulk, because partially it was true. I was indeed stronger than I ever had been, but I was also introduced to a new friend - my belly.
"Junior" (pronounced with a Spanish accent) was my pet name for my gut, because if I pooched it out just enough I could make myself look pregnant and get a few cheap laughs at my expense. "Junior" was a new friend, and at first I didn't mind him, but like an uninvited houseguest he soon wore out his welcome. After I left Hershey, my weight went down to the 225-230 range for a number of years, largely due to muscle mass erosion, with Junior following me wherever I went.
Fast forward to 2009. In the missing years my passion for food and wine has evolved to making those a hobby of mine. I love cooking gourmet food, I love experimenting in the kitchen, and I love wine. I met the love of my life in 2000 who has given me three beautiful children, and managed to stay in awesome shape despite the pressures of being a mother and our passion for food and wine.
In late 2009 I turned 39 1/2 and think to myself how great it would be to get in shape by my 40th birthday. I start the usual weak routine of eating whatever I want still but working out occasionally, and don't have many positive results (shocking, I know). People warn me I need to set goals and have metrics and have a plan... blah blah blah, all the stuff i tell my consulting customers if they want to improve their businesses. But I'm the same skinny kid that can't gain weight, so they don't apply to me. I can do this without any of that.
Wrong.
One month in and I realize I'm failing. I'm 243 pounds, not muscular at all. Junior is starting to make my clothes not fit, which is bad. It is time to take the advice of those that suggested goals and metrics.
I sit down and do the math and discover my body fat is in the 26% range. Yikes. I also learn important things about the way a body works. 1 pound of fat = 3,500 calories. So if you want to lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you eat in a day. Your body naturally burns 12x its weight in calories a day just for living.
So my strategy is to burn 1,000+ more calories than I consume every day. That means limiting my calories, and doing at least an hour of exercise every day. Within 120 days I should have a brand new me.
I'm three weeks into this, and this blog will chronicle my journey. We'll get into the details with the next post.
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