What’s in the RediSetGo? Part Five

There’s been a two-week delay, but absence makes the heart grow fonder.  So let’s all roll up our pant legs and wade knee-deep in the newest installment of everyone’s favorite internet game, What’s in the RediSetGo? Click here for rules and archives, or just keep reading – I promise you’ll pick up how to play in a snap.  Are you ready to play?

What’s in the RediSetGo?

SWEET POTATO FRIES are in the RediSetGo!

I didn’t actually fry them, so I suppose they’re not sweet potato fries as much as they’re just sweet potato sticks, but that’s enough nitpicking.  I got a sweet potato at the farmers’ market weeks ago, and finally got around to using it.  It wasn’t very big, especially after I peeled it:

Perfect for one serving.  A little Pam went in the RediSetGo, and then the sticks, and about 15 minutes later, they were crispy and cooked through.  I hit them with some Mrs. Dash as soon as they were done, got a little Dijon mustard for dipping, then cut up some raw broccoli, carrots, and 2 radishes.  Voila!  My lunch:

In other news, I had a good workout at the gym today:  about 25 minutes of weightlifting, and then 48 minutes of cardio: 5 on a treadmill until an elliptical opened up, and then the rest on the elliptical.  My headphones were on the fritz, which was annoying.  A few days ago, the left side died, and today, the right side started crackling.  Not good.  I need my headphones during my workouts!

On the way home, I made a split decision to buy new headphones.  A few years ago I saw headphones for sale at the 99 Cent Store, so I stopped there to see if they still stocked them.  They did!  Success!  I also picked up a slightly dented can of garbanzo beans for 60 cents and a bag of lettuce for salads (click here for my prior adventures in 99 Cent Store produce).  Here’s my $2.70 haul (including tax):

Why yes, observant readers, they are Uninex International brand headphones.  Jealous?

I also saw this in the check-out line at the 99 Cent Store:

I’m not sure which is the more disturbing thought:  That the 99 Cent Store places pregnancy tests in the checkout lanes alongside other impulse buys, or that this checkout lane was almost sold out of them.

The two people ahead of me in line bought nothing but candy, and the guy behind me in line bought candy and other Halloween decorations.  How much candy did I buy?  None!

Keep it up, David!

Advertisement

A Relaxing Saturday

What a nice Saturday it has been so far.  I slept in, for the first time in weeks, until about 10:30.  No alarms, no waking up and immediately racing through the day’s to-do list.

I plodded into my living room and finished watching the finale of Project Runway on my TiVo (I had fallen asleep with it on last night).  I won’t spoil for anyone that hasn’t seen it yet, but I was rooting for the other person to win.

I wasn’t very hungry today – still full from the chili and cheesecake I had last night, I suppose, but I ate a pear and a yogurt to get something in my system, and since I woudn’t make it to Richard Simmons’ class on time, I headed down to the tiny little gym in my building.

There’s a bike, an elliptical, a simple bowflex-type dealie, and some free weights.  I don’t come down here often, because most of the time I feel more committed to my workouts if I have to actually leave my house to complete them, but today I did 50 minutes on the bike, and worked up a nice sweat.  The bike has games in the control panel, so I played a Tetris knock-off called “Fat-Blocker” while pedaling away.

The rest of the day will include laundry, bills, and since I’m nine episodes behind on Mad Men (!), maybe I’ll watch a few of those, too.

I also weighed myself today.  Down another pound!  That was a nice surprise – I thought my recent general lack of exercise, my failure to keep a food log, and the big piece of cheesecake I had last night would mean that my little plateau would continue, but nope!  I attribute that pound that my healthy eating (cheesecake excluded).

That’s a total of 145 pounds lost, and only 7 pounds to go until I reach my next goal!

Time to update the chart:

Keep it up, David!

I’m Not Setting My Alarm

Just a quick post for tonight before I turn in.

My temporary job is over.  I’m unemployed again, and I’m excited!  I’m sure I’ll have plenty to say on the matter in the days and weeks (and months) to come, but for right now, in my first hours post-job, I’m simply relishing in my freedom.

After work tonight, I headed over to my cousins’ house to celebrate my Aunt’s birthday and see some in-laws that had come in from out of town.  Well, I don’t think they’re my in-laws, technically.  They’re technically my first cousin’s wife’s parents – so that would make them…  anyone? anyone?  Family.  That’s the best word.  And they’re really fun to be around, and it was a lovely evening that involved chili and salad and cheesecake (yep, I had a piece) and Rock Band 2.

Tomorrow, I don’t have to work for the first day in 19 days.  I can’t wait to sleep in – hence the title of this blog post.  Tomorrow is also a weigh-in day!  If I’ve gained a little bit, I’ll blame the cheesecake.  And then I’m gonna work out!

Keep it up, David!

It’s Almost Over

This week has both flown by and inched along terribly slowly.  On one hand, I can’t believe it’s already Thursday.  On the other, it’s only Thursday?!?  Here’s what’s been going on:

My job is still terribly time-consuming.  Today I worked my 18th day in a row without a day off, and I’m exhausted.  I’ve worked until 9pm every day this week except for today, when I was able to leave at 7:15 or so, at which point I did a few errands before stores closed that haven’t been able to do.

Only making matters worse is that this week I’ve been fighting a cold.  I woke up on Monday not feeling the greatest.  I powered through it at the office until about 6pm, and which point I settled into a big comfy chair and dozed off for about 30 minutes.  A co-worker thought I looked cute, because I fell asleep with both hands holding my blackberry in front of my face, as I was reading work emails before nodding off.   I should’ve had her take a photo as a blog visual aid, but funny how you don’t think of those things when you’re asleep.  Anyway, I woke up, felt a little refreshed, worked until 9, and went home and crashed.

Tuesday was much worse.  At the office, people were practically instructing me to go home.  They weren’t telling me to take the day off, mind you, just to work from home so I didn’t get everyone else sick.  And after having a few meetings and taking care of a few important things, I jumped in the car around 1pm and headed home.  There, I worked until 9pm (excluding a 45-minute nap on my couch).

Wednesday was very similar to Tuesday.  People kept telling me I looked like hell, but I powered through, hopped up on DayQuil.  I tried my hardest to leave mid-day and finish my work from home, but one thing led to another and thanks to a series of important scheduled phone calls (that weren’t spaced far enough apart to give me enough time to get home in between them), I didn’t make it home until 9pm.  Guess what I did then?  Crashed.

Today I woke up feeling about 90% better, and over the course of the day improved more.  Leaving at 7:15pm was such a gift tonight, and I’m going to celebrate by going to sleep early.  The 70-hour workweeks AND the cold have taken their toll.  I wrote a post last week about being tired, but that doesn’t compare to this.

I’ll end by explaining this post’s title.  The nice thing about my work situation is that it’s almost over.  It’s a temporary gig, and chances are my last day at this job is tomorrow.  I’m not thrilled about being unemployed, but I’m really looking forward to having free time again!  I’m looking forward to starting my food log again – it had fallen by the wayside thanks to this work schedule – and I’m very excited that I’ll be able to work out regularly again.  I’ve only had the time and energy to work out once in the past 12 days, and that’s gonna change.  As a result, my weight loss has hit a plateau, but that’s about to change too.  I’m looking forward to that most of all.

Keep it up, David!

I’m Over Sardines

One of my very first blog posts – before I had really even told anyone about this blog – was about my failed attempt to make a sardine sandwich.  I had liked sardines for a while – ever since reading a magazine article earlier this year about how good they are for you – but that particular sandwich was kinda gross, and it turned me off sardines for the past month and a half.

Yesterday, I tried making a different kind of sardine sandwich.  I’ll confess from the get-go that I didn’t really research any sardine recipes, but I thought I had a fool-proof plan:  to make a tuna salad sandwich, which I love, except for with sardines instead of tuna.  What could go wrong?

I drained a tin of sardines (headless, tailless, boneless, packed in water) into a bowl, squeezed half of a lemon over them to make them less fishy-smelling (based on a tip from my Aunt Annie), threw in a bunch of chopped celery, 1/4 of a maui onion, capers, 4 oz of nonfat Greek yogurt, a few tablespoons of mustard, and mixed it all up.  That, my friends, is how I make tuna (although the veggies change based on what I have in the house), and it’s gooood.

But when you make it with sardines, the whole mixture comes out gray.  Gray!

I put half of the mixture in a little Tupperware, threw it in my lunch bag, and took it to work.  I also brought along a Thin Bun – these awesome 100 calorie sandwich buns that I love.  Usually I buy the Oroweat kind (which are called Sandwich Thins, check them out here), but right now I have the Earth Grains kind (called Thin Buns):

To be honest, I couldn’t tell the difference at all between the Earth Grains and the Oroweat – except that the last time I was at the supermarket, the Earth Grains were 50 cents cheaper, which is why I bought them.  They’re delicious, and satisfy my bread cravings without being very bready at all.

But I digress.  I wrapped up a thin bun separately – I didn’t want to make the sandwich ahead of time and have it get all soggy.  When lunch time rolled around, I pulled out the bun and the sardine salad, and took a bite of the sardines before assembling the sandwich… and… it was gross.  Repulsive.  The lemon didn’t get rid of the fishy smell or taste – it seemed worse, if that’s possible.  It was even more unappetizing to taste than it is to look at.  Downright unedible.  I ended up eating the bun by itself, and the raw celery and green peppers sticks I had brought, and tossed the sardine salad down the garbage disposal (I didn’t want any lingering sardine stenches to waft out of the trash and assault my or my co-workers’ olfactory nerves).  When I got home, I tossed the other half of the mixture, and then had an epiphany:

I’m over sardines.  I’m done with them.  Even the thought of them just conjures negative feelings and a bad taste in my mouth.  They had a nice little run – I ate about 7 tins of them over the past 6 or 7 months – but I’m gonna lay off them completely now.  I’m going back to tuna for all my canned fish needs.

So what do I do with the last tin of sardines in my cupboard?

I think I’ll donate them the next time a food drive comes a callin’.

Keep it up, David!

PS.  Yes, observant readers, that is a box of Reindeer pate next to the sardines.  I picked it up in Sweden in June.  I’ll be sure to blog about that once I crack it open!

My Incredible Shrinking Clothes – Workout Pants Edition

A month ago today I posted a really great photo that shows the difference in size between the t-shirts I was wearing when I was 402 pounds, and the t-shirts I can wear now (click here to see the photo).  The other day, while doing laundry, I decided to stage another photo, illustrating the difference in the pants I wear when I go to the gym.  Take a look at my incredible shrinking clothes!

I lined up the seam on the right side on all three pairs of pants, so you can fully appreciate the shrinkage.  The black pair on the bottom is size 3xl.  I used to love these pants – I would buy them from a big and tall catalog in 3 colors, all at the same time.  The blue pair in the middle is size 2xl.  I bought these at Casual Male XL (a national big and tall chain) in May or so.  I think they might have been one of the first items of clothing that I bought that were a size smaller, and I was annoyed because Casual Male only stocked sweat pants that were banded at the bottoms of the legs, which I hated, so I bought these, took them home, whipped out the scissors, and cut the elastic bands off so the pant legs hung straight.  The grey pants on top are size XL, and I bought on sale for $8.99 at either Sears or Kohl’s a few months ago.  They were maybe even a little small on me when I bought them – the pockets puckered out a little bit – but now, they fit perfectly, and are really comfortable.

What surprises me most about this picture isn’t that there’s a huge difference in the waistbands of these pants, it’s the huge difference in the legs.  Took a look at the legs on the right side of the photo (which would be the left legs of the pants) – the seam along the sides are lined up, and the black pant leg looks to be slightly over 50% wider than the grey pant leg – crazy!

I plan on staging at least a few more photos like this… In my non-drawstring pants, I’ve down about 16″ or 17″ so far, so that will be a fun photo to see!

Keep It Up, David!

My First Workout in a Week!

The title of this post is true!  More on that later.

First things first – Today I weighed myself.  As I said yesterday, due to my lack of exercise (no work outs at all in the past week, thanks to a strenuous work situation), I was hoping to, at the worst, stay even.  So I stepped on the scale..  and…  let’s just go straight to the chart:

I STAYED EVEN! Woo-hoo!   What I haven’t mentioned before is that my scale actually measures down to the tenth of a pound.  This morning I was 258.5.  When I began this process in January, I decided I would ignore the tenths, because that just seemed like too much.  I know how I can get (obsessive), and I knew that I could easily slip-and-slide into fretting over .2 or .3 of a pound.  So I don’t write down the tenths on the chart, and usually I forget what the tenths are by later that same day.  Don’t sweat the small stuff.  Isn’t that the name of a book?  Has Julia Roberts appeared in a movie version yet?

I’m quite proud that this is the first time I’ve stayed even on my weight loss journey since the beginning of June.  Here’s a close up of when that happened – it was 64 pounds and almost 5 months ago:

I looked up my food log from back then, and it was right after I had houseguests (my sister and nephew), and right around the same time I was resigning from my job of 7 years.  Lesson:  Employment turmoil = more difficulty losing weight.  That’s a habit I’ll have to break, especially if I want to continue doing freelance work!  The photo sort of cuts it off, but I rebounded the next weigh-in with a 2-pound loss!  That’s impressive…  we’ll see what my next weigh in brings.

Today has been a pretty good day, all in all – much better than the stinker that I had yesterday.  I had to work (Day 14 in a row), but I worked from home, completed my to-do list, and it wasn’t all that bad.  I wrapped up around 4, jumped in the car, and headed to the gym.  I decided to hop on the elliptical.  It’s low-impact, has a wide range of settings, and a personal TV that I can watch with my headphones.  I decided that I would build to a moderate, but not crazy, resistance level, and not push myself to the extreme.  And it felt good!  I didn’t bust out into a ridiculous shirt-soaking sweat like I do at Slimmons or Latin Jam class, but I got my heart rate up, and exceeded my 45 minute goal by 8 minutes.

I had to swing by an ATM after, and my bank has a location near Henry’s Farmers Market, one of my favorite supermarkets, so I headed there after to stock up on produce.

They have beautiful produce, great prices, and it’s never that crowded, so you can get in and out quickly.  I wasn’t blown away by the prices today (like I have been at Super King), but they were still pretty good.  Produce-wise, I picked up 3 bananas, 1 pound of carrots, 2 broccoli crowns, 1 green pepper, 1 cucumber, 1 yellow squash, 2 tomatoes, 4 bartlett pears, and 3 ambrosia apples – which I had never heard of before, I don’t think.  The produce portion of my bill came out to $7.90, and when you add in the other stuff in my basket (yogurt, cottage cheese, a few pantry items), it totaled $21.44.

As I was driving home, it started to rain, so I drove around my block a few times extra in hopes that the rain would wash away some of the bird crap on my car and save me some cash at a car wash.  Then I remembered I had popsicles in the truck and scurried home.   I forgot to look after parking to see if the bird crap was still there.  I suppose I was really focusing on those popsicles!  They’re only 25 calories a piece, FYI.

I also just took a really cool, inspiring photo that I can’t wait to share tomorrow!

Keep it up, David!

So Tired.

This marks my 13th day in a row that I’ve worked.  I’m tired and depressed.  I haven’t exercised since last Sunday – although if I recorded all the pacing I do at the office, I’m sure it’d add up to something impressive.

I’m trying to keep my head above water, but some things in my life are definitely suffering.  Exercise (see previous paragraph) is one thing.  My food log is another.  I looked back over it today, and there are major missing pieces – entire meals, entire days.  I maintain my food log in emails that I send to myself,  but I just deleted the email draft with this week’s patchwork of missing information.  I’m giving up the food log for another week, until this strenuous (and ridiculous) work situation is over.

The good thing is that I’m eating well.  Making good choices, bringing food with me to work, not giving in to the ease of a drive-thru after a 12-hour work day.  Earlier this week, despite the lack of exercise, I was down another pound.  That’s a good thing.

I’m due for another weigh-in tomorrow morning.  I’m hoping that I’ll just maintain my current weight.  We shall see, and good news or bad, my blog readers will get the update.

I’m changing my sign-off for tonight.

Keep Up What You Can, David!

Two New Thing Thursday

Last weekend at the farmers’ market, I bought a persimmons – the first persimmons that I ever bought.  Last night in this blog, I said I would eat it this morning for breakfast.  This morning… I ate it.  This afternoon, I tried a second brand-new (to me) food item – more on that later.  First, I’ll walk you through the persimmons.  Here’s the persimmons before meeting my knife:

Here’s what the inside of a persimmons looks like:

And here’s what it looks like after I sliced up one of the halves:

After cutting up the other half, I threw all the slices in a bowl and munched on it in the car on the way to work, while simultaneously texting and putting on my make-up.  Kidding – although I did eat in the car.

I enjoyed the persimmons.  It occurred to me that I had no idea if it was as ripe as it could be – the farmers’ market vendor said I should let it sit a day or two, and I let it sit for 4 – but it tasted good.  It had the crunch of an apple, but a mellow flavor, kind of a mixture of cantaloupe and apricot, maybe?  I’d definitely get another one – apparently we’re just entering persimmons season.

Later in the day, I was feeling really peckish between lunch and dinner, so I decided to purchase something out of the vending machine at the office.  These Genisoy Sweet Crisps were probably the healthiest thing in there, and I had never had them before, or even heard of the company, for that matter:

And once I opened the package:

They’re basically like little flavored rice cakes – except made primarily out of soy instead of rice – and they were “cinnamon streusel” flavored.  They reminded me of Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, in rice cake form.  Pretty tasty!  And only 90 calories and 3.5 grams of fat for the whole bag, so definitely a good snack.

In gym news, this is day 4 of no exercise.  Now I’m definitely just getting lazy. I was able to leave the office at a respectable hour (7:20pm), but decided to head home, write a blog, watch 30 Rock, and be in bed by 10pm.  I’m really tired.  This has been a long week.  Ok, I’m done whining.

I’ll end this post with a picture that will excite some of you…  it’s a salad!

Mixed greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, maui onion, sprouted red lentils and mung beans, capers, roasted piquillo peppers, and the juice of a lime.  Oh, and I sprinkled in some dried herbs to give it a little flavor boost – rosemary, dill, thyme, and fennel seeds – and then when I ate it I remembered I don’t really fennel.  Oh well.  I ate it anyway – it’s still a salad.

Keep it up, David!

Where’s David’s Lunch Box?

For the first time this week, I left the office before 9pm!  Here’s the clock in my car as I pulled out of the parking lot as proof:

That’s right.  8:52pm!  Which means I got home right around 9pm.  As I was leaving the office, I made the executive decision to forgo the gym for the third day in a row.  My reasoning was this:  if I go to the gym and have a good workout, I won’t get home until around 10-ish, and then I’ll just have enough time to make my lunch and dinner for tomorrow, quickly bust out a blog post, and then head to bed.  Which has basically been my schedule the past two days.  And tonight, I just wanted to relax a little bit, and watch Modern Family (which was hilarious).  Would any of you have gone to the gym?  (I’m asking this legitimately, not as a rhetorical question.)

While I was at the office, I came up with an exciting new blog game!  It’s inspired by everyone’s favorite doctor’s office waiting room magazine from their childhood, Highlights for Kids!  My favorite page in every issue of Highlights was the Hidden Pictures page.  There was a big full-page drawing, and you had to find objects hidden in it.  You can play online by clicking here.  I loved this page so much that one year, for my birthday or Christmas, I asked for the compilation Hidden Pictures books that they advertised in the magazine, and I got them.  I was a happy camper.

Anyway – I have a hunch that this game may take off like wildfire, much in the same way that What’s in the RediSetGo did – and that may be problematic, because unless I get really creative, we might only be playing this once.  We shall see.

Are you ready?  Time to play…  Where’s David’s Lunch Box?

This is my lunch box.  Take a good long look:

There are two disgusting fridges at my office.  You know exactly the type of office fridge I’m talking about – the kind where people bring in entire bottles of condiments and forgot about them and they stay there for years.  The kind where people wedge in their lunch leftovers and never throw them out, even though they start to smell and rot.  In an office like mine, where people cycle in and out because a lot of people are freelance, I’m sure it’s even worse.

Every morning I have to find a spot for my lunch box, and I usually end up squeezing it in one of them and feeling like I just won the hardest game of Tetris ever.  So here’s the game:  Below are pictures of my office fridges.  Where’s David’s Lunch Box?

Did you find it?  Answer below.  Game over.

When I arrived home tonight, I realized I had yet to try the persimmons I bought at the farmers’ market.  It will be part of my breakfast tomorrow, along with a packet of instant oatmeal, and maybe an egg, if I have enough time in the morning to cook one up.

Keep it up, David!

Answer:  It’s in the second photo, on the second shelf from the bottom, on the right hand side.