Month 3 Check In - Revised

I'm back from Florida. Actually, I've been back for a week but as so often happens when I travel when I returned from my trip I was sick. I also suffered my monthly mayhem (PMDD) just after I got back. So...Hopefully I won't have to take anymore down time for the rest of the month.

What, you might ask, does any of this rambling have to do with the check in? Well...I didn't have an official weight when I checked in from Florida. So...The official weight from the scale in the Supreme Fitness Gym Ladies Changing Room is....198. A weight gain of 3 pounds.

Obviously there must be something wrong with what I'm doing.

Food:

Again I hardly had any time set aside to cook last month and...Surprise I didn't cook anything! I really have to work on my time management if I'm going to get this taken care of. The day just seems to melt away and I'm left with it being 10:00 with no dinner in sight and not even ingredients in the apartment often. This is just silly. I am not going to lose weight when I'm eating most of my meals from Pinkus McBride.

Exercise:

I got into the gym so seldom last month it really isn't a surprise I gained weight. I think I averaged 2 times a week but that takes into account the week I went every day-You do the math.

Self-Denial:

I still haven’t had any alcohol or Ramen. I miss them both.

Reflection:

I hosed it last month! I am not going to impress anyone with my amazing weight loss if it never occurs!

I have a couple of new incentives to lose the weight, too.My favorite Waitress has offered to take me out for drinks on the house if I meet my 20 pound weight loss goal. I really shouldn't keep her waiting. And...One of my dearest girlfriends from High School is getting Married on July 5th. I want to be smaller than I was in Hight School when I go to the wedding. I was a 14 and about 150 when I graduated. I want to be in size 12 or smaller when I arrive in the 'Burgh.

Plan:

Starting tomorrow I hit the gym every day. I get up in the morning, even on weekends, before 9:00 am. When I go to Eric's I work for no less than 4 hours. I will go the the grocery store and buy ingredients next Monday Night and I will use them to cook a meal at that time and another meal which I will cook next week Thursday. I will repeat this scenario every week until the end of the month.

Food Log:

Brunch: Red Bull and Italian Sandwich on multi-grain bread (Pinkus McBride)

Snack: Hand full of very sour Strawberries

Dinner: Doctored can of Condensed Chicken Soup with crackers and more sour strawberries.

Exercise: None to speak of

Notes from the Kitchen: Canned Soup Magic

'Tis the season for the Flu and I have had a doozy! I had one of those buggers where you have just enough energy to drag yourself to the kitchen and open a can of soup for food. I am well now but I can assure you all I was not a few days ago.

With my recent stint as an invalid fresh in my mind I wish to impart some lessons in canned soup magic.

As with everything…you can’t please all of the people all of the time. I have begun to suspect that with mass-market food the plan has been to succeed at doing the opposite…pleasing none of the people all of the time. Canned soup is bland, salty, mushy, and kind of gross when you think too long about it. So lets not dwell on it and move on to what we can do about it.

If you are very sick or just being lazy then cheap canned soup can be your friend. But it does need some help to become palatable. For this you will need to acquire (in addition to your canned soup of choice): frozen corn or peas (or both), a variety of spices or your choice (ground ginger, onion powder, garlic powder, chili powder, curry powder, basil, oregano, marjoram, etc), Flavored oil (toasted sesame oil, chili oil, or spice infused olive oil), frozen pot stickers, fresh spinach, fresh shredded cabbage (like for making coleslaw), eggs, and crackers.

Now…You don’t by any means need all of these things but a good combination of them will enliven even generic condensed soup.

Step 1: Open soup, dump into a medium pot, and reconstitute according to directions on the can.

Step 2: Season with a combination of spices. This is especially necessary if you bought the low sodium soup. I like to use ginger, chili, and garlic in combination with the sesame oil for an Asian influenced soup.

Step 3: Add vegetables. This is when you would add the frozen corn or peas and the cabbage. You can add the spinach at this point if you like your spinach well cooked, if you only like your spinach wilted (like I do) hold off on adding the spinach now.

Step 4: This is when you all the pot stickers or the egg if using these.

Step 5: Leave the pot alone to get to near boiling or actually to boiling temp. Since there is nothing dangerous raw (unless you added the egg) you don’t need to cook this to death.

Step 6: Prepare your bowl. I like to put my spinach in the bottom of the bowl so that the hot soup pours over it and makes it wilted but not cooked per se.

Step 7: Pour the soup, add crackers (if you desire) and eat. Try not to burn your mouth.

Diary:

I’ve been sick as a dog, so of course, I have not been into the gym! And as for eating right…I’ve been indulging myself some as I’ve been miserably sick, so give me a break.

I am back on target now that I am well. I’ve been in to the gym 2 times since Saturday and plan on going today. And yesterday I met with a personal trainer so I should see the pounds just melting off soon.

Breakfast: Leftover Vientien Palace 3 star noodles with tofu (Probably not the healthiest thing and certainly calorific) and a Red Bull

Lunch: (not yet eaten) But I plan on having some home-made lasagna (400 cals) and a Mellow Yellow.