Monday 10.14.13

I'll make this one of those PostIt Note sized entries.  I didn't weigh myself today. I've been having some issues lately that are getting in my head and veering me off course.  I'm getting myself straightened out and I'll be back on track sooner, rather than later.  I intimated last night that I might discuss it today, but I need to make the words right.  They aren't coming to me just yet.  Keep coming back and watch me overcome my food demons.  I'm still with this.  It's just a little more difficult these days.

I'll see y'all tomorrow,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Cereal and coffee
Lunch ~ A big bowl of homemade chicken soup
Dinner ~ I revised my turkey meatball recipe and I very much liked the results.  The added moisture which was formerly used to compensate for the 99% lean turkey was replaced with roasted eggplant.  It not only kept them more moist, but they were delicious.  Thanks for the idea, Rocco DiSpirito!  I had them with my own marinara sauce and some whole grain pasta.
Exercise ~ None. I hope to hit the gym tomorrow.  This was the first day I have had without and back/shoulder pain.

Sunday Perspective

Okay.  I've been AWOL for two days. There is a lot going on in my life and tonight is not the time to spill it all.  I need to gather my thoughts and I will speak about it, perhaps tomorrow.  I just wanted to check in and let everyone know I am still here and I am okay.  In the mean time, here is a picture of my pups to look at. Ain't they cute?

I'll definitely be back tomorrow.

M

Thursday Recap: 10.10.13

Greetings!  Thanks for swinging by.  I wish I had exciting stuff to tell you today, but it was fairly uneventful.  My eating was on point and I actually got in some unplanned exercise in the last two days. Last night I walked from Penn Station in NYC to Radio City Music Hall and back. That's 2.6 miles, round trip.  Today, I walked the mall after my haircut.  I look fabu, by the way.  That was 1.5 miles worth of walking.  The back is still troubling me, but I didn't let it get in my way.  I ordered an inversion table to hang from today.  Once I receive it, I will write a review.

Cya tomorrow,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Cereal and coffee
Lunch ~ Leftover whole wheat couscous jambalaya
Dinner ~ Grilled calamari w/a ginger sauce and a salmon mango roll
Exercise ~ 1.5 miles walked

What I ate yesterday and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal
Lunch ~ A big bowl of chicken soup
Dinner ~ Grilled tuna and cabbage slaw
Exercise ~ 2.6 miles walked

Souper Food: Kabocha Soup Recipe

Last winter I went on and on about how much I was digging a newfound favorite, kabocha squash.  Some call it a "super food", as it is rich in beta carotene and other essential nutrients.  I just like it because it tastes good.  I'm pretty basic when it comes to things like this. Nutritious, yet unflavorful?  No thanks. Healthy AND tasty, to boot?  Get me a spoon.

Kabocha, also called Japanese pumpkin or buttercup squash in the market, to me is like a fruitier version of a butternut squash.  I get hints of cantaloupe both in the nose and on the palate, but I am a wine guy who overthinks these things.

The goal was to recreate a butternut squash soup served at Panera, but I had this kabocha staring at me on the counter.  They are interchangeable in this scenario, so kabocha it was.  I'd require a liquid, so vegetable broth was a good choice.  I would need richness. Now, most recipes would call for heavy cream, yet I opted for a mix of coconut milk and my old standby, fat free half and half.  The rest was easy.  I hope you will open your mind and try something new.  It will be fairly simple and well worth the effort.  Topping yours with either toasted pecans, walnuts, or pumpkin seeds will add another layer of texture and flavor to the party.

HELPFUL TIP: Kabocha can be a chore to dismantle.  I found that if I pierced it with a knife and microwaved the whole squash for 4 minutes, it came apart MUCH easier.  A grapefruit spoon was used to scoop out the seeds and the flesh was easy to separate from the skin with a knife.

Enjoy!
M

Creamy Kabocha Soup
serves 8

Ingredients

• 2 Tbs Earth Balance Spread or butter, if you prefer
• 1 small sweet onion, such as a Vidalia, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 tsp dried rosemary or 1 Tbsp fresh
• 8 cups or 2 small diced kabocha squashes
• 6 cups vegetable broth or chicken stock
• 6 oz. coconut milk
• 6 oz. fat free half and half
• 1 tsp of your favorite hot sauce.  I like Frank's Red Hot.
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Method

1. Using a large enough pot for about 1 gallon of liquid, melt the butter spread and add in the rosemary and onions, cooking the onions until tender.  About 5 minutes.
2. Add in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.  It may appear the there is curdling on top.  Don't worry.  It's fine.  
3. You may need to do this in batches.  Blend the ingredients until smooth.  ONLY FILL YOUR BLENDER 2/3 AT A TIME, BE SURE TO REMOVE THE CENTER CAP FROM YOUR BLENDER LID AND COVER WITH A TOWEL.  HOT LIQUIDS EXPAND AND CAN EXPLODE WHEN BLENDED.  SEE THIS VIDEO ~ Blender Blunder
4. You can reduce this more if you would like the soup thicker. Adjust seasoning and serve by topping with your choice of toasted nuts or pumpkins seeds.

Tuesday Recap: 10.08.13

Not much to tell today, other than there is one muscle in my upper back still giving me issues. I am going to have to work around it and exercise nonetheless.  I was feeling a bit stressed Tuesday and as a result, had myself a cocktail. SoCo rocks with a lime wedge.  This has been your full disclosure moment of the day, brought to you by emptycalories.com


Soup recipe for Wednesday, coming up next.  Someone please try it and let me know what you think.
M

Here is what I ate Tuesday and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, coffee
Lunch ~ Chicken Caesar salad
Snack ~ Fiber One Lemon Bar
Dinner ~ Leftover whole wheat couscous jambalaya
Exercise ~ none

Weigh-in: Week 89

It's been six days since the last trip to the scale and while it hasn't gone optimally, I am happy with my progress.  I say it hasn't gone optimally due to my back issues and lack of exercise.  I ate VERY well, but I actually miss going to the gym.  Makes me wonder who I am and what happened to the guy who hated exercise.  Then I remember my total distaste for The Dreadmill and I am immediately grounded back into my proper identity.

In the last six days I have managed to lose 2 lbs. even and 0.3% of my body fat.  Not too bad for a short and sedentary week.  I am not only including the picture of this week's scale, but last week's, which I forgot to post as promised.

Cya tomorrow,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal, coffee
Lunch ~ An Amy's Vegetable Pizza.  Not bad, but not all that satisfying and there won't likely make a repeat purchase.
Dinner ~ A twist on my homemade jambalaya, I made it with whole wheat couscous.  An experiment that wasn't entirely successful.  It happens.  It's how we innovate and make progress.
Exercise ~ I had hoped to walk today and I wound up using heat and ice on it again today.

Sunday Recap: 10.06.13

It was a decent day on many fronts.  I woke early for a Sunday and made a good breakfast to start the day.  If you know me well, you know I love to play poker, so I trekked out to The Sands Casino in Bethlehem, PA to play in a poker tournament.  Long story short on that is I made money.  That's always a good thing, making money doing what you love to do.

My back is feeling much better today.  Not 100%, but getting there.  I should be able to do some walking tomorrow.  Speaking of tomorrow, it's a weigh-in day.  I do believe I will see some progress.  How much? We'll see.

Cya then,
Mike

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal is a healthy, hot and hearty breakfast.  Coffee
Lunch ~ A salad at the casino with a smattering of a light dressing, some chicken, corn, edamame, peppers and spring mix.
Dinner ~ A repeat of last night's dinner.  Roasted Turkey and Wheat Berry salad, with kabocha soup
Exercise ~ None

Saturday Salad

This fine looking setting was my dinner this evening.  I wrote in a blog earlier this week that I really enjoyed Panera's Wheat Berry and Roasted Turkey Salad and, as it turns out, so did The Wife. She paired hers with their Butternut Squash Soup. Tonight I did my best to recreate that salad and do a riff on the soup.

The soup recipe will be published sometime soon, but for tonight, I'll throw a very easy oil-free dressing your way that really wowed my taste buds.  It was my way of recreating what Panera Bread had on their salad, a maple balsamic vinaigrette.  I am sure theirs was in no way similar in terms of ingredients, but the results of mine were delicious right out the gate.  I hope you try it and enjoy.

Maple Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing
serves 6

Ingredients

• 3 Tbs REAL maple syrup
• 2 Tbs tahini
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch fresh ground black pepper

Method

Either blend all ingredients until smooth or whisk until homogeneous.  I use my Magic Bullet.

Cya Sunday,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Cereal w/almond milk and coffee
Lunch ~ I ate off of the buffet at Wegman's Supermarket.  I enjoyed some eggplant, tilapia and roasted chicken
Dinner ~ The above salad contained spring mix, aforementioned dressing, pistachios, wheat berries, a wee bit of Gorgonzola and roasted turkey breast.
Exercise ~ No formal exercise today, but I did discover I felt much better moving around than resting my back.  I was on my feet a great deal today.  I may walk tomorrow.  We will see how I feel.

Soapbox Alert! Breast Cancer Awareness Month

The wife showed me an article from a doctor's newsletter that she subscribes to about October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  In the article it raises some some very good points that I feel compelled to parrot here. Since most of my readership is women, this is a health issue that not only should concern each of us, but has, indeed, touched everyone at some point in our lives.  As a health topic, I think it has its place among these pages.

What does wearing pink or buying pink products do to further finding a cure for breast cancer?  Seeing NFL teams wearing pink or 5 Hour Energy selling its raspberry elixir in pink canisters is nothing more than big business capitalizing on our good intentions.  Okay, so a portion of sales may go to research, but if sales didn't increase to cover that percentage, these companies wouldn't get involved.  It's nothing more than a marketing campaign, not the corporate altruism it's couched as. The Susan G. Komen Foundation lists the likes of Tyson Foods as one of its corporate partners.  Avoiding factory-mass raised meats is one of the best things we can do to lower our risks of cancers.  KFC partnered with SGK to sell pink buckets of chicken.  REALLY?  Does anyone else see some incongruence here?  What's next?  Pink Marlboro Lights?

Shouldn't this be Breast Cancer PREVENTION Month?  Education about lifestyle changes should be the main focus.  Instead of spending your money on pink products you likely don't need, buy more veggies. Exercise more.  Swear off fast food, especially if it is wrapped in a pretty pink package that sports the iconic bow.  QUIT SMOKING! These are the things that should be highlighted in the month of October, not picking up chocolate-strawberry Kit Kats to save the boobies.

Rant over.  Thanks for listening.

Cya Staurday,
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Potato, egg and lean chicken sausage. Decaf coffee
Lunch ~ Homemade chicken soup
Mid-afternoon ~ Apple with a smattering of bleu cheese (not a great choice considering I was going out to dinner tonight)
Dinner ~ Today is our 5th anniversary and The Wife and I went out to dinner.  I did enjoy one cocktail (Hey! It's National Vodka Day!), grilled shrimp and cantaloupe salad, and sesame crusted tuna with a side of broccoli rabe and roasted peppers.  Oh yeah.  I ate a roll too.  Bad Mike!
Exercise ~ My lower back is better, but between my shoulder blades has been on fire today.  I hope I can get back to the gym on Monday.

Now Screening...

I awoke this morning to get myself ready to take some tests.  The Wife had signed me up to have some screenings done to test for plaque buildup, carotid artery blockages and abdominal aneurysms.  What a fun way to start the day!  I rushed out, so as not to be late, and got myself poked, squoze like a Tropicana orange and sonogramized.  I'll know in three weeks whether my fate is to stroke out or have my heart explode.  Not that it is either/or.  I am betting my life will be fairly boring in the medical trauma department, but it will be nice to have someone else offer their professional opinion as to such.

Tomorrow I think I will pontificate a bit about Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I seldom if ever stand on a soapbox here, but tomorrow I will. So if flying in the face of everyone wearing pink offends you, you may want to skip the Friday offering.

Cya then
M

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Fasting for my tests
Brunch as it were ~ A western omelet with whole grain toast, roasted veg and coffee.  They offered the roasted veg as an alternative to potatoes.  When the veggies came they seemed to be drenched in butter or oil.  What was the point?
Dinner ~ Homemade chicken soup from my left over rotisserie chicken. It was chock full of veggies like carrots, parsnips, bok choy, celery and kale.
Exercise ~ My lower back and also between my shoulder blades is a mess.  There won't be any exercise until at least Monday, I think.

Wednesday 10.2.13

I am racing a dead battery and an appointment, so I will be brief. Ate well.  Back in agony.  Had a good cigar with a friend and drank a beer.  Not much else to say.

More Thursday.

Cya then,
M






What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ Cereal w/almond milk
Lunch ~ Leftover Brussels sprouts salad
Dinner ~ Veggie burger w/cheese and ketchup.  Yes cheese. I indulged a little
After Dinner cigar w/beer
Exercise ~ None

Weigh-in: Week 88

Brief recap for those of you who didn't jump on board four weeks ago.  This morning, I weighed myself for the first time since May.  After May, I was a bit careless in following my own advice and reverted back to some old habits.  I guess in the simplest of terms, I relapsed. Knowing that I likely put on way more weight then I wanted to confront myself with, I opted to give it a full four weeks to undo as much of the damage as possible, trying not to throw myself into a "depressive-foregone-conclusion frame of mind."  I need to avoid at all costs, telling myself, "Fuck it.  I failed.  Give up."

Normally you would see a picture of the scale from this morning.  That picture does exist on my phone and will be posted later this week.  I am choosing not to post it today because I would like my readers to listen to my words and understand where my head is.  Pictures tend to draw the eye and the typical reader (myself included) would feel they heard the story's ending, why bother hearing the whole tale.

I mentioned in Sunday's post a rule of thumb that I thought might apply today.  Bonus points for those of you who read it and saw foreshadowing.  That rule of thumb is, "Weight goes on MUCH faster than it comes off."  Given that truism, I know that one month of VERY hard work and diligence might not right the wrongs which I inflicted upon myself all summer long.  Just know this, dear reader: I am totally determined to hit my goal weight, totally proud of what I have achieved to date, and totally in the right frame of mind to finish this sucker in grand style.  True success is measured by how you meet what lies ahead of you, not by letting the past cripple you.  I can't change the last three months.  I can change the rest of my life.

So where does that lead us?  To the scale, of course.  This morning after my trip to the bowl, a shave, some Q-Tipping, blowing my nose, clipping my nails. a hair cut, and a chemical peel (Okay, I am exaggerating.), I stepped atop the scale and saw that I am, indeed, heavier than I was back on May 7th.  To be exact, I am 4.8 lbs. heavier, torturing the scale at 266.4 lbs.  I think I heard a sigh of relief when I stepped off.  Body fat percentage was 39.9% and water 43.2%.  I did work my ass off in September, so much so that I do notice significant changes in my body.  It is very motivating.  I am okay with all of this.  I will build upon September and keep moving in the right direction from here forward.

Thanks for listening, not judging, and supporting me always.  It means the world to me.
Mike

What I ate today and how I exercised:
Breakfast ~ 2 eggs, one slice of whole grain toast and some pesto, jumbled up in a bowl.
Lunch ~ An Amy's Light and Lean Bowl.  Some sort of frozen tortilla fiesta thing.  Tasty and reasonably satisfying.
Dinner ~ See this?  I saw it pop across my screen this morning and realized I had the makings of it right here in the house.  "That's Dinner!" I said.  Roasted Brussels sprouts and apple salad.  This is a platter of four servings, enjoyed thoroughly for about 390 calories.
Exercise ~ None.  Still nursing a bad back.