MJ's Fat-assery

[Beardhammer]

I don't think I use nearly that much in a big batch of stew/chili, and that ends up being 10+ meals. I am aware of the issues surrounding soy, especially GMO soy (mmmm, hair in my mouth!)

Maybe I'll have to try soy, or what I call unmeat, in my next pot of chili. Wikipedia says it doesn't really have a flavor... so how does it fare for absorbing flavors? Could it be marinated like you'd marinate chicken, or would it only work well when being cooked alongside other foods (like you mentioned, peppers, onions, garlic)?

Just seems like using unmeat in a pot of tex-mex chili would have my family spinning in their graves.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

I've used it in chili with my kids, and not told them. Not one person mentioned the lack of meat. They soak up flavors very well.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

My stomach has been killing me for three days now that I am back on a restrictive low-calorie (read: what a normal human eats) diet.

...

I find this is useful, since everytime I have a stomach pang, it reminds me of what the hell I'm doing this for.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

One whole week of good eating, no seconds, no junk food (family events notwithstanding), working out in the morning (alternating weights and HIIT), jogging a little in the evenings, excruciating leg pain from over-working myself, and not snacking.

The not snacking is what I came here to mention. This week, with my working out in the mornings, it's put me in a mindset I can hold onto all day, the "I don't want this morning to be a waste" mindset. Because of this, I've realized just how much time in my day at home is spent snacking. I'll type something on the computer, get up and walk into the kitchen, and just start... opening cupboards, going through the fridge, looking at the collection of condiments, but because I'm on my no-snack kick, I won't EAT anything, I'll just look. Then I'll go sit down. The FOURTH TIME I DID THIS the other night, I realized it was just habitual behaviours warring with new behaviours. I KEPT GETTING UP TO LOOK FOR FOOD WHEN I WAS NOT HUNGRY.


It was a little shocking.

[Solt]

Wow, interesting discovery.

Keep up the self observation! And the good progress!

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Fuck Today.

Yeah, that's me.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Another three pounds gone, and another 25 seconds off of my One Mile Time, bringing it to an even two minutes faster than July 1st. I am eating more again, but not as much as I used to, and it is somewhat healthier, so my weight has gone back up again, BUT I feel better, stronger, more energetic than I have in a very long time.

We were at my niece's birthday party yesterday, which was at this gigantic playground complex near one of our many, many beaches. As usual, my role was 'keep an eye on ten to twenty kids aged 2 to 6'. Normally I just sort of hang out and keep an eye on them, but for some reason I was eyeing all the bars and thinking 'I could do that'. I ALWAYS think that, but I rarely believe myself. I found that I was a lot more agile than I have been for a while, too, and I could grab some of the highest railings, get a foot on a post, and sort of haul myself up (some of the platforms are, like, ten feet off the ground). I could grab a bar and flip both my legs up and make a bridge between two structures for the kids to go under, and in one instance when I didn't move out of the way fast enough for the kids to GO ACROSS. And instead of hanging for a few seconds and falling because my ass was too heavy and my hands were too weak, I was holding on just fine (except for a twanging twinge in my right tricep that doesn't seem to be going away).

Long story short: a bunch of toddlers still kicked my ass, but I actually had a lot of fun and impressed myself. More incentive.

Oh! I also had to break out the drill and add another hole to my belt. That was sweet.

[Evengeduld]

Long story short: a bunch of toddlers still kicked my ass

No matter how agile or fast you are toddlers will always kick your ass when it comes to playgrounds

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Fail Whale recovery time. Between the dental crap, sickness, massive barbecue season and binge dringing binges (of drinking!), I've been pretty shot for the last two weeks, food-wise. The total lack of sleep caught up to me and I started sleeping in again, made all the easier by the fact that my job is now only 2 minutes away instead of 20.

...

Might have damaged some of my progress there.

[poxic]

So long as starts = stops + 1, you're good.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Yay "Fat Guy Shred". Managed to lose 10 lbs since January 1st. I am pretty hungry, but... yay!

Also, I have gotten a Fitocracy invite. Does anyone know anything about this? They mentioned xkcd right in the invitation e-mail, and I know I looked into it last year when it was still being designed.

[philsov]

Does anyone know anything about this

It lets you log your exercise for points towards meaningless levels (think RPG leveling, only without, you know, a boss). There's also fitness forums, the ability to join groups (like the 'run 10K mile' topic here), logging workouts/your weight, and a lot of tools that are useful towards one's fitness goals.

the only thing that it has over a simple notebook and a handful of gold star stickers is the social aspect. So if you want to share photos of you slimming down or oogle at some girl who can crush your skull with her firm, Amazonian thighs it's the place to do it. I have an inactive account there -- tried it for a bit, but start up input can be cumbersome, the signal to noise is moderate, and spreadsheets are much easier to mess with instead of flash and drop down menus.

Also people log the most mundane of things like "walking to the computer to type this! 10 points!".

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Thank you, extremely excited Nazi. It's about what I figured then.

I'm already doing the xkcd FatBet, I'm quite sick of Gymga and I was inexplicably added to my wife's forum's introPLAY League, so I think that's enough fitness-y stuff for me.

[philsov]

Spoiler:

[Mighty Jalapeno]

I peed. True story.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Just to catch people up, here's my Week Three ramble. The important bit is at the end, though.

----

In case this seems disjointed, it was all written in chronological order, a little bit every day.

Weekends continue to be my Achilles Heel. My snacks have been healthy (except for those half-price dark chocolate stick things... HALF PRICE) but I am definitely eating too much when I am hanging around the house, since it’s all so tasty. Good for me (mostly), but too much anyways. I have still found enough time to work out, either WiiFit or Free Weights or Treadmill, at least, and I don’t ache like hell anymore.

And now I have a god-damn ear infection. Thanks, Doctor “Well, Let’s Just See What Your Persistent And Sleep-Preventing Cough Does For A Few More Weeks, Mmmkay?”

Legs sore from working out, but it’s nothing like the OH MY GOD I CAN’T SUPPORT MY OWN WEIGHT ache I had last week. This week it actually feels sort of good.

I know it’s not actually possible, maybe it’s just a reflection of positive thinking and... stuff, but I swear I look better in the mirror now. I still feel like a fat sack of crap, but the mirror is less insulting about it.

I took Wednesday off of exercising, since my entire body was throbbing and my right leg was cramping a bit, and I probably snacked a little more than I should have since my bronchitis is kicking my ass again, THEN I slept in on Thursday morning, but I feel a lot better for it. I know I’m not going as hardcore on this as I should, but when you’re sick (and my ear infection has migrated back to my LEFT ear) it’s difficult just to do acceptable. Bleargh.

On the plus side, I opted in for my company’s Full Year Membership to the gym a block from my office. I’m a little worried, since it’s what I would normally term a “hot fit people only gym”, and I feel more than a little out of place, but they are open early enough that I can go there BEFORE work, AT lunch, and maybe one or two days a week I can go there after work. If anyone laughs, I can crush them with my MASSIVE TORSO.

I can’t believe it, though... ONE DAY without exercise, and ONE DAY snacking a little more than usual, and ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT the next day is food. It’s ridiculous. I’m working on a building, redesigning the steel since the engineer apparently works with more dimensions than the three I’m used to, and ALL I WANT IS MEAT AND CHEESE. WITH SALT. ARGH.

I compromised: veggie sub, no mayo. I think I need more lettuce, olives and hot peppers next time. I think that, perhaps, a veggie sub could be my occasional treat / reward, since it still appeals as fast food AND junk food, but it’s a freakin’ veggie sub. When I develop a little more self control, a foot long could be TWO lunches. Nom!

On second thought... what the hell am I doing? $5.60 for a footlong veggie, $7.27 when the sale is over... Running a quick check on my own, I can make a footlong at home for $1.35, and half of that is bread and black olives. Why aren’t I living off of those sandwiches?! I could! They’re delicious! I would MURDER vegetables at this rate, especially since I could add tasty things Subway DOESN’T have like mushrooms and artichokes and garlic!

You know something, I bet I could. I bet I could go a WEEK eating those sandwiches at home, and nothing else. The only real dinger would be the starch load from bread... does anyone know any good ways to get around that? Super-multigrain bread? Tortillas? Eggo waffles?

Switched up my freeweights a little bit, now for arm curls and slow punches I hold BOTH big weights in one hand, and do one side at a time (it’s also probably good for my fingers, trying to hold both of those damn things at the same time). I wanna make my own 20lb weights now, or maybe 25’s should be next. I should hit Value Village and see what they have laying around. If I’m trying to built strength I need to up the weight.

...

Motivation roadblock: got laid off.

This is sort of sucking the will to diet out of me, but I am still exercising (though right now is a rest day, for what good it will do). I’m not eating junk food, I’m still laying off the sugar and I am still eating more veggies than before, but I am just eating more of what’s available. It’s only until the shock wears off, I tell myself.

I suppose this is as good a test as any of my resolve!

2012... you’re on notice.

[Nath]

Do you enjoy cooking at all? If so, you could use the spare time to experiment with good food that's consistent with your dietary goals.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Do you enjoy cooking at all? If so, you could use the spare time to experiment with good food that's consistent with your dietary goals.

There's a reason I weigh this much.

And yes, I plan to. We're running a little self-imposed Pantry Challenge right now, going through our mass assorted dried goods and canned goods. I went through FOUR. BIG. JARS. of pickled jalapenoes since September, and have started on my fifth and final jar tonight, so we're also looking into what crops to plant to pickle NEXT year. And with everyone out of the house for a couple hours each day I can safely enjoy my sardines for lunch. Mmmmm.

[semicharmed]

And yes, I plan to. We're running a little self-imposed Pantry Challenge right now, going through our mass assorted dried goods and canned goods. I went through FOUR. BIG. JARS. of pickled jalapenoes since September, and have started on my fifth and final jar tonight, so we're also looking into what crops to plant to pickle NEXT year. And with everyone out of the house for a couple hours each day I can safely enjoy my sardines for lunch. Mmmmm.

Tomatoes! Also, you seem like the kind of person who would enjoy sour cabbage, so cabbage and then some onions/garlic/carrots to add into the cabbage.

Sweet peppers are pretty easy to pickle, too. And if you like horseradish, beets + horseradish is an amazing combination.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Tomatoes! Also, you seem like the kind of person who would enjoy sour cabbage, so cabbage and then some onions/garlic/carrots to add into the cabbage.

Sweet peppers are pretty easy to pickle, too. And if you like horseradish, beets + horseradish is an amazing combination.

My wife's parents get ~10,000 lbs of tomatoes out of their farm, so we get infinite tomatoes forever. My wife loves sour cabbage, though, and we get cabbage from the farm, too. We mostly look at smaller high-yield low-use crops we can do in our yard, so lots of herbs, peppers, berries, etc. My wife and son loves beets, they're growing four kinds at the farm.

[PictureSarah]

My dad makes mass quantities of cabbage salsa. I don't like it much, but he adores it, and it's uber-healthy and low-calorie, so you can eat LOTS. Only problem is finding out how to eat it NOT with chips or similar.

[philsov]

Motivation roadblock: got laid off.

Sorry to hear that, MJ.

But this is a perfect opportunity to get everything in line. You've got loads of time on your hands for planning (and most importantly doing) exercise, outings, and new routines. And with the reduction of income you have more reason to eat less and in calorie-controlled portions, yes?

[Mighty Jalapeno]

The effect on the costs of my food will be minimal, since I generally ate really, really cheaply anyways. My kids by far make up most of the food budget. However, yes, you are right, I do have a lot more time to plan workouts and stuff... AND SLEEP. OH GODS, SLEEP. I GET TO SLEEP IN UNTIL, LIKE, 6am NOW! That, and I can pour my furious rage into working out.

Cabbage salsa sounds... oddly delicious.

[philsov]

well, do your kids need to lose any weight too?

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Both girls need to gain, and my son has inexplicably lost 8 pounds since November, so... nope, we're good there. They all eat healthier than I do, though, we've raised them with a lot of fevered rants about nutrition, organics, vegetarianism, biology and warnings not to end up like their fatass parents. We just spent $278 on a cut and wrapped pig, which should probably be the last of our meat purchases for quite some time, and we generally consume vast quantities of fruits, veggies and oatmeal the rest of the time. And pasta. Mmmm pasta. Noodles are pretty cost-effective, ~2 bucks for a meal that feeds everyone, and sauce made of veggies we've already got canned or frozen.

[semicharmed]

My wife's parents get ~10,000 lbs of tomatoes out of their farm, so we get infinite tomatoes forever. My wife loves sour cabbage, though, and we get cabbage from the farm, too. We mostly look at smaller high-yield low-use crops we can do in our yard, so lots of herbs, peppers, berries, etc. My wife and son loves beets, they're growing four kinds at the farm.

Damnnn, that is an impressive amount of tomatoes. I still stand by my suggestion of pickled tomatoes, though. If you do it right, they are one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten. I'm currently living in the land of beets & potatoes. And carrots, I suppose, & cabbage (& in the summer, all manner of other delicious, fresh/homegrown vegetables). And in the winter, delicious jars of pickled things - cucumbers but also peppers and tomatoes, and jars of jam and horseradish beets. And adzhyka/adjika, which tastes like a salsa but with the texture of a good pesto when it's done right.

[Plasmic-Turtle]

Maybe I'll have to try soy, or what I call unmeat, in my next pot of chili. Wikipedia says it doesn't really have a flavor... so how does it fare for absorbing flavors? Could it be marinated like you'd marinate chicken, or would it only work well when being cooked alongside other foods (like you mentioned, peppers, onions, garlic)?

I've used it in chili with my kids, and not told them. Not one person mentioned the lack of meat. They soak up flavors very well.

I'm a bit late to the game, but I'd like to note that the ability of tofu to soak up flavours (and I swear the liquid itself, particularly with firm tofu) is something that should be given consideration when deciding what meals to slip it into.
Tofu in a stirfry that has soy sauce and maybe honey and other nice things added = delicious
Tofu to replace the beef in beef bourguignon so as to cater for the vegetarian crowd = not such a great idea, in fact I think I got pissed off it. It soaks up flavours so well that by simmering it in red wine it simply became red wine in edible form...

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Just figured I'd update a few things:

Started running again, and somehow knocked 10 seconds off of my November time.
Really, really changed my diet up (about 75% paleo), and am just blown away by how hungry I'm NOT.
There are two giant bags of Lays in the cupboard. I have not eaten then.
There are four dozen chocolate chip cookies on the counter. I have not eaten them.
I lost six pounds over the last two weeks.
I made myself an inverted rowing stand.
I just feel better.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

And I just accepted a Video Challenge: First person to provide video proof of a pull-up wins. Loser has to write a sonnet and post it to our forum about how awesome the other person is.

[philsov]

that's gonna be rough. You... can't do a chin-up yet, can you MJ?

There's a handful of exercises you can do to increase your pullup abilities, but really the easiest way is just shed some pounds.

I did my first pullup a few months ago. Felt awesome! Went for two and that was an abysmal failure.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

More that I CA.N'T do a chin-up yet. Even negatives are hard. But I've got five weeks to go!

[philsov]

double breadcrumb'd~

5 weeks? What happens if neither you nor other participant(s) complete a pullup?

[Mighty Jalapeno]

I dunno, but it's part of the Six Week Challenge, so... death to us both?

I figure if neither of us complete it in the allotted time, we just keep going until one of us does. I want a sonnet praising my osmness, dammit.

[Nath]

How'd it go?

[Mighty Jalapeno]

To answer your question a little late: not great. I can do a partial pull-up, but nowhere near a whole one.

Also, I am now a volunteer firefighter for my region (which is to say, the only kind of firefighter we have). I passed the physical remarkably well. A 'good time' is 3 minutes, and they're willing to go as high as 5 for new recruits. I did it in 2:23, and I could have totally shaved 10 seconds off of that if the f***ing gloves hadn't screwed me up and made gripping that f***ing rope almost impossible. Still, they said I did 'remarkably well' for a person my size, on his first try (hint: wearing full gear with breathing apparatus and air tank, I have a hard time fitting through small holes). Also got the 1068 page manual.

I have re-started my diet and stuck with it. Lost 3 lbs this week. House is totally stocked with diet-friendly food. I work out 2x a day, back on water, feel better than ever. I actually have a real paying and life-saving reason to get in shape (the SCBA juuust barely fits on me, so losing a few inches would be good) and 20 or so guys willing to help.

[Роберт]

Also, I am now a volunteer firefighter for my region (which is to say, the only kind of firefighter we have). I passed the physical remarkably well. A 'good time' is 3 minutes, and they're willing to go as high as 5 for new recruits. I did it in 2:23
...
I have re-started my diet and stuck with it. Lost 3 lbs this week. House is totally stocked with diet-friendly food. I work out 2x a day, back on water, feel better than ever. I actually have a real paying and life-saving reason to get in shape (the SCBA juuust barely fits on me, so losing a few inches would be good) and 20 or so guys willing to help.

Awesome!

[gaurwraith]

Sounds good MJ.
As for chin ups, it's a matter of constance, one of my flatmates didn't want to invest 3 euro in a pullup bar cos he said he could not even do one, so the rest of us bought it and set it up. Now he's doing more than me so we asked him to cash in and he was happy to do so
I would recommend that when you can do one chin up, do it a lot of times a day, but separating the sets

I mean, it's better to do lot of 1-2 sets than push it to higher numbers and end up with hurt shoulder (happened to me) (i think people call this "greasing the groove") I checked the pullup program too, but I find it too stressing because of the sets being too close in time

humm... well.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Oh, I know. Right now I'm doing a lot of pulling exercises, deadlifts, and negatives on the bar in the backyard. DOWN is easy. UP is hard. GTG is my motto for things like that.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Weigh in: I have lost 4lbs since last Saturday.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Further weigh: I have lost 15 lbs since the last time I posted in here.