Practicing What I Preach at the Supermarket

One of my hard and fast weight loss rules is to never grocery shop when you’re hungry. Wandering the aisles on an empty stomach will lead to impulse purchases and poor choices.

I’ve heard this rule since I was a kid, and I’ve stuck to it as much as possible over the past eight years. I share it often, because I know

Trying New Things Week: Funky and Fresh Farmers Market Finds

WHOA! These are some loooooooong beans!

Guess that they’re called? Long beans! (Other acceptable answers: Chinese long beans, yardlong beans, asparagus beans and snake beans.) And they’re just one of many exciting new-to-me purchases from the farmers market.

Get Ready… It’s My First Produce Haul Post in Five Years!

Time for a blast from the past. I haven’t shown a produce haul on this blog since 2013! And there’s not many photos I love taking more than ones displaying a tabletop full of fresh, delicious, healthy things to eat.

Pictures of the fruits and veggies that I bought were once

I’ve Become a Costco Member. Please Share Your Costco Advice!

I never thought the day would come where I’d be a Costco member, but that day is here. And I have a creepy serial killer photo in the corner of my membership card to prove it!

Check out this creepster!

I’ve resisted Costco for years and years, mostly because I’m

Food, Glorious Food…

…Hot sausage and mustard.  While we’re in the mood,  Cold jelly and custard!

I’m not even a fan of Oliver! and yet that song has been stuck in my head, because I’m just wrapping up a monstrous grocery shopping excursion. I can’t remember the last time I spent so much money on groceries.

And boy, did I need it. My cupboards were bare. My fruit bowl was nearly empty, except for

Early Weigh-In Results and Produce Haul

Yikes – it’s already almost the sixth month of the year! I’ve been feeling really good about how I’ve been eating, and even though June is still two days away, I decided I didn’t want to wait two more days before having my monthly weigh-in. So, this morning, I stepped on the scale.

DOWN FIVE POUNDS SINCE MAY FIRST!

Very exciting news. It wasn’t a complete surprise, since I’ve weighed myself a couple times over the past few weeks to see how I’m doing, but I’m still elated, especially since this month was a challenge, what with my surgery and my inability to exercise afterwards (I’m still not able to fully exercise, but I am walking a lot). I still have 10 pounds to go before I lose the 15 that I gained when I fell off the wagon, but I’m getting there!

Return of the Produce Haul!

I haven’t done a produce haul post in an eternity, if you define ‘eternity’ to mean a few months. But it sure seems like an eternity has passed since I’ve carefully arranged the contents of a shopping excursion on my coffee table, and it’s time to do something about that. I was inspired to do a produce haul this past weekend, when I noticed my cupboards were nearly completely bare. My fruit bowl had 3 heads of garlic and two lemons, and check out my fridge:

Nothing but condiments, egg whites, water, 1 yogurt, and some low-sodium V8 in there!

Being Healthy During a 60-Hour Work Week

Man, how my life has changed. Three months ago I was unemployed, blogging like a madman, working out 6 times a week, and watching a helluva lot of TV. Now things are completely different. And that’s a good thing. But it’s difficult. Here’s why:

Pool/Haul

Two topics today. Shall I start with the pool or the haul? I say pool.

1) Pool. The training continues for my upcoming open water swim in the Pacific Ocean. I had scheduled to go to the pool for a swim on Friday morning before work, but I ended up sleeping through that alarm and didn’t make it (I exercised after work, though, so it wasn’t an unplanned rest day).

So I headed to the pool on Saturday morning, with a brand new pair of goggles that were a recent purchase at Sport Chalet. It was the first time I’ve been goggle shopping in years, and I was completely overwhelmed at the selection. I vaguely remember, as a kid, having about 8 brands/types of goggles to choose from at MC Sporting Goods in suburban Detroit, but Sport Chalet stocked probably close to a hundred options:

Back to Work!

Today’s my first day at my exciting new job! I was never a boy scout, but I am prepared. It’s been a while since I’ve worked, and I wanted to set some habits back into place right from the get-go. So I packed a gym bag and woke up early to exercise before work (that’s the plan, at least… I confess that I’m writing this Sunday evening).

I also packed a healthy lunch. In fact, I spent hours yesterday prepping food for the work week. And I’m not joking around. I literally spent hours. You must be wearing your lucky pants… because I took pictures!

It all started at Sprouts, which is quickly becoming my favorite supermarket, thanks to its prices and its proximity to my gym (two blocks away).

There’s no gentle way to put this: