I’m Back

My goal of staying at 161.6 lbs over the Arizona field trip? I was close: 161.8 today, up 0.2 lb from last Tuesday. The trip was memorable for many reasons: the snow at Williams Depot, the stunningly beautiful Grand Canyon, and the fact that over half the group came down with a stomach virus.

The good news is that the virus lasted less than twenty four hours: nasty, brutish and short. My symptoms included passing out for about 30 seconds (I was in a moving car at the time, but fortunately not driving) and when I came to, throwing up violently several times until there was nothing left to throw up except bile.

This was the first time since 2004 that I have traveled somewhere without my laptop. I came back to lots of e-mails and blog posts to catch up on, and news of the rocket attack on the Ashkelon mall.

Busy

Going down the pre-trip to-do list, wondering if there’s anything I forgot to do, buy, photocopy, wash, dry, print, fold, pack…

I went in to work today to get some things done in peace and quiet. I haven’t done the Sunday work thing in awhile, and I don’t plan to do it again before the end of the year.

I have no business having these protein bars in the house. I bought them as “emergency rations” for the trip, and I’ve already eaten two. Let’s see if any make it to the plane…

Blogging will be sporadic over the next week. Possibly non-existent. I’m considering not taking the laptop along and leaving it at work instead. I haven’t gone anywhere without my laptop since August 2004. There will likely be withdrawal issues…

Off and On

Later this summer I’m scheduled to go to New York for a workshop. I thought I would extend the trip at my own expense and sightsee, since I’ve never been there. That was before I checked hotel prices for that planned two-day extension. Never mind.

Friday was an off-plan day with the exception of breakfast. Breakfast was an 2 egg omelet with shrooms, tomatoes, onions and 1 oz cheese, and coffee with 2 tbsps cream. After that it was a bunch of different things:
2nd breakfast: biscuit, strawberry jam
1st lunch: a bowl of vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce
2nd lunch: 1/2 a turkey sandwich with tomatoes, pickles and mustard, 1/2 a turkey sandwich with lettuce, mustard and mayo, a cup of tomato-basil soup, non-diet DP
1st dinner: a protein bar, an Americano with cream
2nd dinner: a lime tart
I didn’t feel stuffed at any point nor did I have a sugar rush & crash. I wondered if I would wake up on Saturday morning and crave the same things again, but it didn’t happen.

Today was back to normal:
M1: Scallion-cheese omelet (2 eggs, 2-3 tbsps chopped scallions) fried in 1/2 tbsp butter with 1 oz whole milk mozzarella, 1 cup cooked spinach, 1 cup coffee w/ 2 tbsps cream
M2: homemade chili (4 oz beef, 1/2 tbsp oil, tomatoes, orange pepper, spices), 2 cups dDP.
M3: homemade tuna salad (130g celery, 1 can water-packed tuna drained, 1 dill pickle chopped, 1 tbsp canola mayo, 2 tsps mustard), 1 can dMD.
Miscellaneous Snacking: 2 cups coffee w/ 4 tbsps cream, 1 oz aged gouda (unie kaas robusto), 1 cup sugar-free cherry gelatin, 1 cup dDP, 1 can dMD, 2L H2O

Car Dealership: Fresh Donuts

Over the past few months I’ve been taking my camera with me everywhere, which practically guarantees that nothing interesting enough to photograph will happen in my vicinity. However, today while I was waiting at the car dealership, I happened to be sitting right beside the donuts, because the donuts happened to be right beside the wall outlet for the laptop. While I didn’t feel like eating any, I did think that they were pretty enough for pictures, so here they are:

A closer look at the plain box.

Fresh from the bakery.

A closer look at the assorted box.

Waiting for My Car

I’m sitting at the lounge at the car dealership, waiting for the service department to finish working on my car. The lounge is actually quite nice. There is a tv, free newspapers, hot drinks and donuts for anyone who want them, and most importantly, free wifi. I’m checking work e-mails periodically and catching up on my blog reading.

Over at Big Fat Deal there’s an interview with PastaQueen, and I find some of the comments to be incredibly whiny. I’ve enjoyed reading her blog, and I put her book on hold at my local library even before it was published. Having now read it, I’ve decided to buy two copies. She writes about her weight-loss experience with humor and honesty. The book spoke to me because I’ve experienced several of the situations she describes.

As for her comments about the FA movement, both in the book and in the interview, I agree with them entirely. It is one of the reasons I’ve reduced my visits to FA sites. I don’t tell other people what they should or should not do with their bodies, they should not presume to tell me what I should or should not do with mine. In this interview, PQ puts it very well: “I never told anyone else to lose weight. I never tried to make anyone else feel bad for being fat. I just had to admit that I didn’t like being fat and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. If I didn’t like being a brunette, no one would give me shit about dying my hair blonde.” Exactly.

Updated to add: Of course Krista put it just as clearly awhile back: “If you choose to reduce your body fat, don’t view it as a moral issue. Think of it like a haircut or clipping your toenails: you’re simply decreasing the amount of a physiological component, not embarking on a religious crusade.”

Continuing with the topic of people who enjoy telling other people how they should live their lives: Samizdata has a post about a certain British tv chef and his ideas for new laws.

Eggs

There was a rather long gap between meals today. I had M2 around 11:30am, and then ran around doing other stuff, sustained by diet Coke and water, until 6:20pm when I had M3. I had almonds with me but didn’t feel like having any. There were free sandwiches available at work today, but I didn’t want to start taking a sandwich apart to get to the deli meat. It’s disrespectful to the food, and hardly the sort of behavior I want to model to my students. I realized when I got home that the fastest thing I could cook was eggs, hence the scramble. I could have opened another tuna can, but one per day is my limit.

After I ate the scramble I went online to look for new egg recipes, and found this recipe for Akoori, or spicy scrambled eggs. There’s a version at the American egg board also. I think I’ll make that for dinner tomorrow.

I’ll have some sour cream and more veggies later if I feel hungry.

M1: 2 egg omelet fried in 1 tsp butter, 1 oz whole milk mozzarella, 3/4 cup cooked spinach, 1 cup coffee w/ 2 tbsps cream
M2: 1 can water packed tuna, 1 tbsp mayo, 1 tbsp mustard
M3: Mushroom-egg scramble (2 eggs, 3.5oz mushrooms) fried in 1 tsp butter, 1 oz Brie, 1 cup dDP
Miscellaneous Snacking: 2 cups coffee w/ 4 tbsps cream, 1 oz Brie, 2 cans diet Coke, 1 L water with sugar-free drink mix.

Singing

I have a pile of assignments to grade and a final exam to design, so this will be short. Food was good. The burger tasted fine cold. I didn’t get enough water in again and I’m out of turnips.

Today was Yom HaZikaron, Remembrance Day for soldiers who fell in Israel’s wars, and tomorrow is Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel’s Independence Day. We had a ceremony at work first thing this morning, and then in the afternoon participated in a coordinated around-the-world singing of HaTikvah, Israel’s national anthem. On that web site they link to several versions of HaTikvah. I hadn’t heard this one before, but I like it, and I also like the enthusiasm with which the audience joins in after they realize what it is that Mr. Friedman is playing.

M1: 2 egg omelet fried in 1/2 tbsp butter, 1 oz whole milk mozzarella, 3/4 cup cooked spinach, 1 cup coffee w/ 2 tbsps cream
M2: 1 oz Brie, 1 oz pecan/cashew/pistachio mix
M3: 4 oz beef burger, 2 tsps mustard, 1 tbsp mayo, 1 large orange pepper, 1 can dMD.
M4: 4.5 oz albacore tuna, 1 tbsp canola mayo, 2 tsps mustard, 1 cup cooked spinach, 1 turnip
Miscellaneous Snacking: 2 cups coffee w/ 4 tbsps cream, 2 cans dMD.

Downwards

At the ww meeting this afternoon I was at 161.6 lbs, down 5.4 lbs from last Tuesday. And that is with no exercise, while scarfing down 30 pts per day. (Partly out of curiosity, and partly because I like their web site interface, I’ve been tracking food on the ww website, which is how I know the total pts.) I love TNT.

Speaking of pts, when I broke 170lbs last week I was supposed to adjust the base pts allotment to 24 from 25, but obviously I ignored it. I am certainly not going to adjust food intake downward until I stop losing at this intake level, and certainly not because some computer says I should.

My goal for the next meeting is to stay at 161.6lbs. The next meeting will be Thursday May 15, since with all the obligations next week I can’t make any other day. The upcoming trip will throw things for a loop, and I’ll take stability. It’s only a three day trip, but it turns the next ten days upside-down.

The meeting was about saving money by being more organized and careful with one’s grocery shopping. Nothing new, but it doesn’t hurt to hear it again. I brought my water bottle and drank a liter of water over the hour or so from weigh-in to departure. I usually get there right when weigh-in starts, and then I sit and read a book while folks trickle in.

The chili was just as good for lunch today as it had been for dinner yesterday. I thought about making a second batch, but for time reasons decided to just put the remaining ground beef on the Foreman grill in the form of two burgers. Ate one for dinner, and one will be the center of tomorrow’s lunch.

There were giant cupcakes in one staff room and ice cream with assorted toppings in the other staff room, all free and available, but I had no cravings. The real test will be when TOM rolls around.

M1: 2 egg omelet fried in 1/2 tbsp butter, 1 oz whole milk mozzarella, 3/4 cup cooked spinach, 1 cup coffee w/ 2 tbsps cream
M2: 1 bowl homemade chili (4 oz beef, tomatoes, pepper, spices), 1/3 oz roasted & salted almonds
M3: 4 oz beef burger, mustard, 1 cup cooked spinach, 1 turnip, 2 cups dDP.
Miscellaneous Snacking: 2 cups coffee w/ 4 tbsps cream, 1 L water and 1 L water with sugar free drink mix, 2 oz Brie

Chili and Music

I made no-bean chili today; it is remarkably yummy.

I used the recipe on p.121 of the TNT book, except that I halved it and, once it was done, did not put any cheese on top (Judaic reasons, not caloric ones). The only reason I halved it is that I do not have a large enough fleishig cooking pot to cook a full lb of ground beef at one time, so I went with a 1/2 lb. This made enough for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow.

I’ve never doubted that I could cook if I tried, but I’ve never had any desire to cook (as opposed to baking, which I have done occasionally, and quite well). It seemed to me a waste of time… I could live happily on nuked oatmeal, hardboiled eggs, omelets, and putting pieces of meat on the Foreman grill without bothering to season them first. But I am enjoying these forays into cooking, and chili is such a sensible dish: while it simmered I did all the dishes and answered some e-mails.

M1: 2 egg omelet fried in 1/2 tbsp butter, 1 oz whole milk mozzarella, 3/4 cup cooked spinach, 1 cup coffee w/ 2 tbsps cream
M2: 3 oz stirfried chicken thighs, 1/2 cup cooked spinach, 1 can dMD
M3: 4.5 oz homemade tuna salad, 2 cups raw spinach, 1 can dMD, 1 cup sugar free raspberry flavored gelatin
M4: 1 bowl homemade chili (4 oz ground beef, precooked weight, pepper, tomatoes, assorted spices), 2 cups dDP.
Miscellaneous Snacking: 1 L water and 1 L water with sugar free drink mix, 1 oz Brie, 1/3 oz roasted & salted almonds - I took 1 oz with me to work, but after eating a couple didn’t feel like eating more.

Post-chili, I downloaded the new NIN album, The Slip which is available free via the band’s website. I heard about this via Samizdata.net, listened to a few tracks at iLike, and decided to try it out.

Tastes Change

I’ve never liked onions, scallions excepted. When my dad would cook something with onions in it, I would pick them out and pile them neatly at the side of my plate. But it seems that I can now add onions (or at least the Vidalia ones) to the “list of foods I used to hate as a kid and now really like”. Other foods on this list are spinach, mushrooms and mangoes.

Read another book, decluttered a little, answered e-mails from work, practiced the Rosh Chodesh reading, asked myself (again) how come I signed up to chaperone a field trip where I would be sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag for three nights. Harrumph, that Grand Canyon better be as glorious as people say it is.

There is no way I can stay TNT-perfect through that trip, but that does not mean I’m going to be eating junk. I’ll take almonds and pecans, protein bars and tuna pouches, and drink lots of water, and get right back on track when I get home.

I decided to cook the remaining chicken thighs today because I wasn’t sure how many days I could leave raw chicken in a marinade in the fridge. Checked after the fact and apparently it is two days. Next time I’ll work in smaller batches and freeze the chicken in the marinade.

M1: mushroom-onion omelet with feta, 2 cups coffee w 4 tbsps cream
M2: 6 oz raw marinated chicken thighs (forget to weigh post-cooking), 1.5 cups frozen green beans, 1 tsp oil, 2 cups dDP
M3: 4 oz homemade tuna salad, 1 roma tomato, 1 cup cooked spinach, 1 pickle, 1 cup sugar free raspberry flavored gelatin
M4: 2 oz cooked chicken thighs (and this time I forgot to weigh pre-cooking), 6.5oz broccoli-cauliflower mix, 1 cup sugar free raspberry flavored gelatin
Miscellaneous Snacking: 2 L water and 2 L water with sugar free drink mix.