Day 26, 27, 28 - July 27-29, 2023 - Another Day in P-A!

 Today was the final FULL day in PA for the Drum Set class.  I can't wait to get back home and be able to eat like a functional human again.  I"m not excited to step on the scale, as I fear that I will have undone a lot of the good work I did earlier in the month.  But I am thinking that a couple of really good days should put me back where i was to start August and make another good push leading into Marching Band Camp.

WEIGHT UPDATE: On Saturday morning, I checked in on the weight and was up a total of 4 lbs from the BBQ week and the week in Philly.  This is actually not alarming, as I can knock that off in 2 days, as we've seen.  I was honestly worried it would be much worse.  If I play my cards right, be the end of the weekend, I should be close to where I was and ready for the August push!  Should end July down 10-11 pounds in total, which I think is reasonable even though there was no good progress the past 2 weeks.

Breakfast: As predicted, another day at Starbucks.  The same sandwich - sausage and egg on English muffin. The same drink - Double Chocolatey Chip Frappucino with skim milk and no whipped cream.  Except the line was REALLY bad today.  I was 10 minutes late to class because of it.  But it was cool.  They don't really bust our chops about that.

Lunch: For lunch, they had a BBQ for all the students of all the classes going on right now.  I just had a hamburger, a diet coke and 4 small churros (Which I think would be equal to like 1.5 regular churros.)  This turned out to be nice because I ran into Jill from WCU who was taking the instrument repair class and we had lunch together with some of her friends from her class.  Was good to catch up.

Dinner: EEK!  Ok, so the other day, I tried to go to Tony Lukes, but they were closed.  Today, I was on the way to my craphole hotel and was very hungry.  I was driving by the Tony Lukes in the mall, so I tried again.  I ordered a buffalo chicken (cheese)steak along with cajun fries and a diet pepsi. Didn't get the cheese, but if I called it "chicken steak," some people would not understand what I got, believe it or not. Holy Moly - this was a great meal across the board - other than it being HUGE HUGE HUGE.  Luckily, it was a really early dinner, so hopefully, since I didn't eat anything after that, perhaps it won't have a dramatic affect on things on the non-existent scale tomorrow morning.  I have to tell you, I'm a Tony Lukes fan after having this.  Will probably by my go-to if I'm in the area down the line.

Evening: Not food related, but I went back to Harrah's because I was bored and it is only 13 minutes from my hotel.  Had another good lucrative night at the craps table.  The table was a lot of fun.  Good crew, good energy and everyone was having a  good time.  Glad I went. Partially because it was fun, but mostly because I made some money  :-)  I did have a Red Bull at the table.  Would have been easy to have 3 or 4, because they just gave them to you at the tables, so all I had to do is tip a buck and I get a Red Bull.  They even didn't open it!  Could have gotten some and brought them home. What was I thinking?  :-)

That's all for today.  Sorry it's a little boring, but it is what it is.  1 more day tomorrow and then I can get back to eating well.  It's just really hard being away, eating alone most meal sand having nothing to cook, prepare or make good choices with.

UPDATE FRIDAY:  I wrote this on Thursday, 7/27, but never posted it until today, 7/30.  The next day, I had the usual Starbucks breakfast and then a Wawa Lunch.  Had some chicken bites and Reese's Big Cups. From there, I went to Scott's house because it was pretty much on the way home.  He has wanted me to try this pizza place near his house called "Nova Trattoria." It was really quite good!  I won't tell you what percentage of this pie I ate, but let's just say that it rhymes with a part of your lower leg.  Official review - solid pizza.  Traveled well in the box, good texture - not droopy but not too crispy.  Cheese had a really nice taste - Had just enough oil on top that gave it a nice extra on top of the bite, but didn't drip all over you.  I would definitely go here again - probably every time - when visiting "Caesar Salad."  At night, I had some doritos and called it a night. 

   

    

UPDATE SATURDAY: Had a really late breakfast - just a couple eggs.  Went to a crazy awesome luau themed party at a friend's house in town with Kristyn and the kids. Knowing how I am with bbqs, I figured I would not eat much heading in.  Now this was not your typical BBQ.  It was catered with servers bringing around finger foods early on - pineapple coconut shrimp, fish tacos, meatballs with some awesome flavoring on them, sticks of thick-ass bacon - I've been to weddings with less at their cocktail hours!   Then for dinner, they had a whole Hawaii themed buffet.  They had chicken and steak skewers, shrimp, rice, chicken, all seasoned for the theme, and chicken fingers, fries and mac & cheese for the "kids."  Along with a couple Stellas and a rum & diet, let's say I ate well.  BUT I did not by any means overdo it, so that's good for me!

Oh - I had some doritos in between by eggs and the party.

I don't think I had anything at night when I got home. 

That's everything I have for you.  Now, back home and ready to get back to "normal" - I hope to have more full Blog posts with more detail on a daily basis.  Sorry to be a little light the past couple weeks.   Been pretty busy.

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: I'm down a total of 10.2 pounds. This is up 2.3 pounds from 7/21 weigh in, but only up 0.5 from 7/20 weigh in.  SOOOO, I basically stayed the course from 7/20 to 7/30.  I'll totally take that, considering how it all went the past 10 days.  Promising.  :-)

Day 25 - West Chester, PA Pizza Whore Tour Is Back!!!

 Well, it's official, this week is a lost week for J-DOC, but I'm having a great time here in PA while learning a ton, so I'll get back on the train when I get home Friday night.  For now, let's bring you in on the great day I had!

Breakfast:  I hit up the Starbucks today for breakfast.  Had a sausage and egg on an English Muffin along with a double chocolatey chip frappucino with skim milk and no whipped cream.  So let's talk about this meal.  So I get these Starbucks gift cards from my students sometimes for Christmas or end of the year.  I don't drink coffee at all.  So one year, I got over $250 for CHristmas to Starbucks alone.  I had to figure out what to do with that, so I found a drink I like.  This frozen chocolate drink with no coffee in it.   So that is my go-to.  On my drive to Villanova from the hotel, I figured I'd find something.  WRONG!  The only thing I passed was a Starbucks.  So I got this sandwich and the drink.  I have about $40 left on my gift cards from this year and this meal is $10.  So I went Tuesday and I went today.  I'll likely go tomorrow and Friday and then all my money will be gone. BUT this is convenient because it's the only place to eat on the way, AND it's technically free!  So I don't regret this one bit. :-)

Lunch: For lunch, I was on my way to Wawa, but passed a pizza shop that I had not seen the day before, so I went there!  I got a plain slice and a buffalo chicken slice.  Now, I'll tell you that the buffalo chicken slice - it looked SOOOOOOO terrible out of the oven.  The way the cheese was put on there was not a way I like it.  It was like they use a different type of cheese on top of this slice. BUT I never judge a book by a cover with pizza, so I tried it.  AND, it was much better than it looked.  THat being said, I'd never get that exact slice again.  The plain slice - it was droopy and so soggy at the top half that I could not tell where the cheese ended and the crust started.  Not a fan.  IT's a drag.  I wanted to like it, but it was not very good.  Had a diet coke to go with this. 

Yesterday, I went to WAWA for lunch and hada special - 4 inch sandwich and small soup for $6.50.  So I got a 4 inch buffalo chicken cheesesteak and a cup of meatballs. (Yes, that's a "Soup.")  With a diet orange soda, the holy grail of diet soda, it was a reasonable lunch.  

Dinner:  Ok - so this is where things got really hairy.  I decided to head into West Chester to check out my old stomping grounds and hopefully meet up with some friends.  In the meantime, I wanted to try some new pizzerias that were not around when I was a WCU.  I started off with the 3 that Portnoy went to.  WHY?  Because if he went there, it's usually because so many people recommended it on his app.  SO if that's the case, I'll just go with his research.  (not his reviews, but his research of where to go.)  I started at "Pizza West Chester."  Looked at the "menu" and it said slices were $4.  So I ordered one.  I was told "We don't do slices at this hour." And they looked at me like i was some idiot.  To which I responded, "I just looked at the menu and it says slice, so I figured you had that." He said "We are not a slice shop and don't do slices at this hour."  "What hours do you have slices?"  "In the morning."   So I walked out disgruntled.

Move onto the next place - West Chester Pizza Cafe.  This place is also new - never seen it before.  Slice was thin mostly, but the crust was a little fluffy.  OVerall, the slice was ok.  I enjoyed it, but I've definitely had better. 

Next up:  Benny's.  This is an old school place.  Been around for awhile and had a nice old pizza shop vibe.  I had a plain slice which was fine.  It was nothing special, but was what pizza is supposed to be.  The cheese was a little gooey and the taste was a little bland, but overall - I'd have it again. 

Now, on the way from the car to Benny's, I passed a place called "New Haven Pizza."  So I walked in and they were ALSO pies only.  So I only lasted there for 1 minute before walking out.  

At this point, I was pot committed to getting a 3rd slice, so I looked in Maps and found "Lorenzo's."  This place - the slices were out of this world huge!  O.M.G. Becky.  Look at that Pizza!  This slice made my house looks small.  And it was my 3rd slice of the hour, so this was going to be hard to put down.  Here's the thing - it was fantastic!  Crispy, tasty, a little oily but not too much.  Cheese was perfect, all of the textures were awesome and it really tasted good.  Best slice of the night.  I ate all the way down to the final crust.  But now, I'm in a food coma!

After my pizza binge, I went to see my student who is partaking in the Drum Major & Marching Band Clinic by Vivace at West Chester University.  Watched her do about 20-30 minutes of mace work with Ed Otto while also watching the full ensemble rehearse.  Later, she went on to do some color guard stuff.  It was REALLY great to watch other people run a band rehearsal.  It's been awhile and it just reminded me of some techniques I should be utilizing.  Here's a photo of the dorm I stayed in when I was a frosh and sophomore!

From there I headed out to Jake's Bar for $1 drafts.  I had a Yeungling and 2 Coors Lights.  These were small mugs.  Probably 8 oz, but for $1  can't beat that.  I met up with Joel for a little bit to shoot the Sh*t.  It was nice to catch up a little bit.  Very rarely see him so it was nice and I really appreciated the effort he made to come out and say hello while I was in the area!

Then Tony came by and we hung for a little bit.  Also, couldn't resist getting a new Jakes Bar t-shirt - the classic design!  Still only $6 for a t-shirt there!!!!!

 After Joel left and before TOny got there, I hit up Facebook for a minute and saw that John Grecia was having his weekly night at Pietro's Prime.  So Tony and I headed over there to see him play.  That was a real treat!  If you are Grecia's Facebook friend and have not checked out his live stream on Wednesday nights, you should!  He plays and sings awesomely and it was a real treat to hear him.  Had a glass of Glenlivet and a Founders beer while there.  Tony and I hung out, caught up and enjoyed some great music!

This was a great trip back to WCU.  I had some new pizza, saw my student who actually seemed happy to see me, saw some old friends and heard some great music.  OH  . . . . .. . . and we walked into Old Swope and walked around a little.  We needed to hit the bathroom.  The back door was locked, but TOny thought maybe we'd get lucky at the front.  We go to the old auditorium entrance and he hits the handicapped automatic door opener button. AND THE DOORS OPENED!!!  It was like the heavens opening up.  Tony's face was CLASSIC when that happened.  So we took a little tour of the building before moving. on.

Anyway, awesome times at WCU.  Hope to get back here again soon.  There's so much more to still see!

Day 23 - July 24, 2023 - Off to Villanova University!

I'm VERY far behind.  One of the things I am going to allow myself is to get away from the blog for a few days if I'm busy and just get on it when I have time.  I don't want to stress about it.  That drives me away - stressing about remembering every single thing from 3 days ago and then I just want to go to bed but I can't because I have to put the pieces together of my after lunch snacks from last Wednesday!  So I'm going to start back up today.  If I get on a roll, I'll write up some old ones from the past week, but maybe not.  We'll see. 

 Today, I started the Drum Set class through University of the Arts, but hosted at Villanova University.  So far, it's a GREAT class.  Learned so much in the first day alone.  This will be a challenge, but a really fun one that is going to help so much when working with my students.  Really great.  Can't wait for tomorrow.  But, let's back up.  I had to drive down here for an 8:30 class, but also had to find the parking lot, register, etc.  So last night, I went to bed around 2.  Got up at 3:45 to feed Conor, who did not really want to have much milk.  So I put him in his swing to fall asleep so I can get a half hour nap before the alarm went off at 5am!  Up and at 'em - out the door by 5:45.  

Breakfast:  I stopped at Griddle This.  I was going to need my energy for a 2+ hour drive at 6am after sleeping for only a little over 2 hours the night before!  I had a taylor ham and scrambled egg sandwich on a toasted bagel.  I was a TEENY BIT disappointed today because the bagel was a little black charred, which makes that part of the bagel tasteless.  This does not happen often, but when it does, it's a drag - especially when I only eat about 1 bagel a week these days.  Nevertheless, it was still a good breakfast!   I also had a Red Bull.  No way I was getting through today without that!

Lunch: After3 hours and 45 minutes of drumming in all of it's glory, it was time for a lunch break.  I don't have anything with me, so I went to the nearest pizza shop:  Campus Corner Pizza at Villanova on Lancaster Ave.  I order 2 slices and it turns out, as you can see below - I did NOT need 2 slices!  These things were monstrous!  I still ate both of them - I hate wasting food. :-)  IT was really droopy and the texture of the crust was  bleh, but it was better as I got closer to the end of the slice as it got more crispy there.   I also had a diet pepsi. 

Class ended at 4:30.  It was time to head to the hotel and find out what I got.  Well, it turns out (as usual), that I got what I paid for.  I got the cheapest actual "brand name" hotel i could find within 2 minutes.  The Days Inn by Wyndham in Springfield, PA.  THe photo on the website looked nice, but that's where it stopped.  This place is a DUMP!  I'm pretty sure I'm gonna find dirt in my towel or a mouse in by bed cuddling up to me after midnight.  I guess that'll be ok - I am a little lonely here.  :-) JK.  I'm fine, but I do miss my family.  

DINNER:  I decided that, well . . .."When in Rome,"  so I'd go get a cheesesteak.  Around here, there are tons of stops in regular towns that are not in the heart of Philly that you can go and just get a cheesesteak.  I tried to take a couple people's advice and go to Tony Lukes. 

\

But it turns out that they closed at 8.  It was only 7:50, but they were long shut down already by then, so  that was a waste of time.  So I went back to where I came from and went to Jims.  I just had a plain steak, my usual, and some fries with a diet pepsi.  This sandwich was fine.  And I know, I know . . . .. "of course it was just 'fine', you got it all dry and stuff!  But I get it like that all the time and some are better than others.  This was pretty bland overall.  But it was still quite good. It's hard to completely screw up this meal!

I did not work to set up any social stuff for tonight because I had a feeling I'd be exhausted coming into this day and I'd want to sleep it off.  But the hotel is so crappy that I really just wanted to get out!  I couldn't find anyone on short notice  that was close enough at the hour it was.  It was already 7pm and I hadn't even gone to dinner yet, so I knew I wouldn't be ready to rock until after 8.  So I just decided to hop in the car, take the 15 minute drive and go to Harrah's to get just a little bit of my fix for "CRAPS!"  I took out $100 so I can play.  Hung out for about 90 minutes and ended up making $200!  And all of the winnings came on the 2 times that I was the shooter!    It was lots of fun and once I got up over 200, I set $200 as my bottom line so I took my winnings and went "home" for the night.   During the crap game, I had about 2/3 of a Miller Lite.  

So as you see, today I did not overeat.   I just didn't eat anything good.  And I guess the portions were a little big.  But I certainly did not snack, since I don't have any snacks with me!  I'm hoping I can make some better decisions moving forward this week, but I won't count on that   We'll see!

Now before I leave, let's talk about my butt.  It freaking hurts after sitting on a crappy (no pun intended) drum stool for 8 hours.  I am completely regretting not bringing the Roc 'n Soc comfortable drum throne that I have at school.  This is BRUTAL!  Everyone is feeling it.  At any point in class, you could see 5-6 people just standing up to get a break from their stools.  You'd think that at least we would have some stool softener!  (pun intended.)  THe moral of the story:  If you take this class (and you should, if you are a band teacher,) Bring a good throne.  You and your hiney will thank me later. 

Thanks for reading and have a great day, everyone!

Days 14-16 - July 15-17: A Weekend Away, and Back On Track

 This past weekend, Kristyn, the kids and I went up to Pawling, NY to visit her parents.  Because I didn't have my computer set up and I really didn't want to stop everything I was doing to log food as I went, I just took the opportunity to not write everything up.  I did not keep track, but I can give you an idea of the weekend. 

My expectations of the weekend:  I would not go crazy trying to be perfect and ignoring all tempting options, but I would limit the amount I ate and try to make some good choices and limit the damage.  How did it go?  Let's see.

Friday:  For breakfast, I remember being rushed.   I had to get to the tire shop to get new tires on the Sonata and I was running late.  Didn't get a chance to make breakfast, so I had my first BAGEL!  (I think it was my first one since i started this.)  I drank water with it, though, so that was good.   For lunch, I honestly can't remember, but I am pretty sure I had a salad.  Dinner - well, we were running REALLY late leaving for Pawling, so we were gonna stop at McDonalds to get the kids Happy Meals so they can eat in the car.  I didn't want McDonalds, so I grabbed a couple slices of pizza across the street at Three Boys.  Not that pizza is insanely healthy, but it was better than what I would have gotten at McDonalds.  BTW - the pizza at Three Boys this night was fantastic!  I got lucky and got there just in time for a fresh slice pie to come out of the oven.  It was great!  At night, we hung out for awhile.  I had a couple beers and a little bit of my scotch.  (Brought the Lagavulin with me.)  Resisted the binging urge with the chips for quite awhile, but the urge got to be a little too much after a few hours, so I did have a few too many chips.  

Saturday: Breakfast was a simple couple of chocolate chip pancakes.  Kristyn let me sleep, so I didn't get up until after 10am.  It was amazing!  needed something small and quick so I'd be ok for lunch.  These hit the spot.  The rest of the day was pretty much PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA.  I had offered to make pizza for everyone, so we went out to grab some doughs.  While there, they picked up a couple dozen wings.  I had a bunch of them.  They were not large wings at all, but they sure were tasty!  Then the pizza marathon began.   I pre-shredded the mozzarella and mixed it with the parmesan, romano and asiago back in NJ on Friday.  I pureed the San Marzano tomatoes and spiced it up with salt, pepper, garlic, onion, olive oil and oregano.  I cut up some turkey sausage and a couple pieces of purdue chicken breast.  This all made it really easy to put the pizzas together when I was ready.   I first made a plain pie and a chicken parm pie. About an hour later, Joey woke up and so I made another plain pie.  And then about 2 hours later, I made a buffalo sausage pie.  Everything was great and everyone seemed pleased with the pizza.  Pictured ar ethe chicken parm and buffalo sausage pies.

   

I had a couple scoops of ice cream for a snack, a couple beers throughout the day and a couple pieces of candy - they were some sort of sour strip things.

Sunday: On Sunday, I woke up to scrambled eggs, taylor ham and toast.  That was a nice surprise!  Then, I had a couple leftover slices of pizza that I had burned in the air fryer and the kids didn't want.  Happy lunch!  They were actually pretty good.  On the way home, we stopped at Red Rooster.  I had a pretty huge soft chocolate ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles.  It was glorious!  Top it off with a Red Bull to kick off the drive, and there you have it.  At home, I can't remember what I had for dinner but I'm pretty confident I had a handful of goldfish and picked a little bit at some snacks here and there.  

Overall - was it a great weekend?  NO.  Was it a lost weekend?  NO.  I can't say I'm completely pleased, but I did limit the damage and didn't go off the deep end, so I am happy with that.  Also - I can not guarantee that I listed everything. I am just going off a quick memory at 1:30 in the morning a few days after the fact, so it's highly likely I missed some stuff. 

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: As of 8am on Monday morning, 7/17/23, I was up 3 pounds for the weekend.  This is disappointing, but not surprising.  Tune in tomorrow to see how I dropped almost all of the 3 pounds I gained back off on Monday!

Day 12 - July 13 - Gotta Love the Homemade Pizza!

 Breakfast: This delightful breakfast included 2 scrambled eggs and 3 pieces of turkey sausage.  I am pretty impressed by my willingness to cook in the morning.  If I ever could keep this up during the school year, I'll be golden!  That would require me to get up earlier.  eek!  We'll see.  :-)

Lunch:   I have grown to enjoy this salad.  This again, is my complete salad.  Lettuce, chick peas, cucumbers, sunflower seeds and shredded cheddar with red wine vinegar.  I don't really need the seeds these days, but I gotta use the up.  Once I finish them, I probably will not get them again.  Unless someone can tell me that they are REALLY good for me and I should continue to get them for some reason.  I also had that delicious spicy chicken patty.  This is a really tasty lunch.   Can you believe I'm really saying this?  :-)

Snack:  Behold . . . . . The Tastykake chocolate frosted cupcake.  Every so often, I find these on sale: 2 boxes for $4.  I get them . . . . . for the kids, right?  :-)  Actually, I've done really well with it this time.  I only ate 1 of the first box of 12 cupcakes.  Tough to see them every day and not eat them, but I've survived.  Today, I eat this glorious cupcake, which by the way, is MUCH better coming out of the fridge. 

Snack #2: 6 crackers, eaten 2 at a time with peanut butter in the middle.  This snack makes me feel like I'm getting away with something.  I'm sure it's not the most perfect snack ever, but there are much worse things to eat, I think.  The difference between me eating this now and me eating this in June:  in June, I'd sit my fat ass on the couch with a jar of Peanut Butter and a sleeve of crackers and shovel 'em down like they are potato chips.  Betcha can't eat just 15. . . . . .  But I control it much better now. 

Dinner: HOMEMADE PIZZA NIGHT!  My intention was to try making my own dough.  That didn't work out at all due to timing, so we just got our doughs at Marios in Norwood, as usual, and made some amazing pizza.  The kids each partially sauced and topped their pizzas and I made the other one.  This was was one of my favorite pizzas I have made to date.  Just came out really well!  So happy with my pizza making progress.  This was just done in the home oven.  I'll cook another night in the outdoor pizza oven. 

 

  

**If you can't read the shirt, it says:  "I'm into fitness.  Fitness this whole pizza in my mouth!**

Late night:  My buddies Mike and Barry invited me out to the new sports bar in Cresskill which is called "Scotty's."  I've been really wanting to try it out, so this worked out well.  Once the kids were in bed, I went out for a little bit.  Had 2 beers and no food.  Was a nice hang and a very nice bar.  Highly recommend that you check it out!  Sorry to not give much more info here, but this was 5 days ago and I'm just catching up on my writing, so I'm gonna move on at this point!  

Weekend update coming next!

Day 11 - 7/12/23 - Rock Opster, Green Tea & Frozen Foods

Day 11 has arrived!

Breakfast:  Had breakfast with Oppy today!  The Rock Opster!!!  Special occasion, so we met up at Griddle This.  (What was the special occasion?  Actually hanging out with Oppy!)  So I went to G.T. for the 2nd straight day.  BUT I decided to change it up.  Got a sausage, pepper and onion omelet, with added bacon.  Whole Wheat buttered toast and home fries.  I didn't eat half of the home fries, but I crushed the rest.  Also - just had water.  No Red Bull today.  

Ended up hanging out for about an hour and a half just catching up.  Was good.  I'm learning how to do this relaxing thing during the Summer.  :-)

Lunch: For lunch, I am continuing to work hard to not throw away food.  We waste way too much food because we don't eat our leftovers.  With that in mind, I had this leftover burger and this little container of rice left from the other day.  Nothing special - but a simple lunch - not overdone - free - and not wasteful.  This time, the diet was for my credit card!  :-)

Now what about these cans below, you ask?   A few years ago, a parent in my school gave me about 4 of these.  They were quite delicious and I got into drinking them for awhile.  Then I sort of forgot.  And then I can't necessarily find them everywhere, so I stopped getting them.  Came across them at Stop & Shop the other day so I grabbed 4 different ones to see which I liked the most.  3 of the 4 are zero calories.  The other one is 90.  I had this Green Tea one today and it was pretty good.  Very refreshing and seemingly, not really unhealthy!  They are $2 each, which sounds like a lot, but it's twice the size as a Red Bull and cheaper!  And You will pay more than $2 for a 20 oz soda, so it's not that bad in the end.  I could see myself drinking 2-3 a week, to keep things interesting. 

Dinner: Summer Wednesday means MARCHING BAND!  I had section leader auditions today, so I had to get to school by 3pm to get situated and then start auditions at 330.  Auditions pretty much straight through until 7:10.  Rehearsal started at 7, so the staff got rehearsal started and then I ran to the teachers caf for a minute to eat this box of crap. 

To be fair, I don't hate this meal.  it's not bad at all.  BUT it kind looks really ugly when you heat it up.  It's sort of surprising that I like it.  BUT it's quick, easy, keeps in the freezer and fills me up temporarily.  It works in a pinch and I didn't have time to prepare anything and I didn't really have time to eat anything else, either.  So I shoveled this down in a 8 minute break I gave myself and then went back to work!  

Rough day, as I lost another marching band kid, bringing the numbers down AGAIN!  This was set to be the first year in about 10-12 years that the numbers went up.  I started with 37 last year and ended with 39 as 2 kids joined late.  I had 44 signups in the first week of JUne!!!!  And here we are, I have had 8 drop since mid-June and I'm down to 36.  One by One, they just keep dropping like flies.  And this is before we even have done anything!  it's really frustrating.  This kid handled it great.  Scheduled a chance to talk to me.  Really gave me a lot of insight into his thinking.  Very reasonable and understandable.  Probably made the right decision for him.  BUT still very frustrating.  Until then, he was actually doing all the training for student leadership!  And now, poof! Not even in the band.  He will still be in concert band, so all is not lost.  But another great kid who won't be in the marching band this year.  

Snack: I think I had some sort of frozen treat when I got home - not sure which one, but they all have 70-100 calories.  It's not ice cream - it's some sort of ice pop or ice or something.  I clearly can't handle having ice cream in the house.  BUt a variety of fruity and icy treats helps when I'm in need.  :-)

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE:

at 8am on 7/13/23, I was down 0.5 from yesterday and a total of 9.7 lbs from the first 11 days.  Going strong!  All is good.  The next 9.7 pounds will put me in a place I have not been in for at least 3 years.  I'm really looking forward to that. 

7/11/23 - Day 10 - Double Blackstone Day!

 Breakfast: Today, I had my "Load management" breakfast at Griddle This.  Taylor ham with 3 egg whites on whole wheat toast and a red bull.  Ya know, coming from going to Griddle This literally every day (proper use of the word literally), only going once a week or so is pretty crazy.  Obviously I really like the food there, but I go there more because I just like going there.  The people who work there have become friends.  I'm the type of person who likes having a "regular" thing.  So taking that away from myself is pretty tough.  That being said, I am saving a ton of money by eating more at home.  But going once a week or so is good for the mind.  AND even when trying to eat healthy, it's certainly important to support small business - especially those that are owned and operated by people who have become friends!

Lunch: This was a good one.  So a guilty pleasure is a good steak-um.  I very rarely have them, but I'll always enjoy them.  I found chicken steak-ums.  The great thing about these is that while the chicken steak-um is not exactly what I'd call "Healthy," it's generally got much better nutrition facts than the regular one.  

Calories: Steak: 100, Chicken: 40

Fat: Steak: 9, Chicken :0.5

The chicken actually has a little more protein too. 

Notice - I'm not talking about the sodium.  That is significantly worse in the chicken, but each meal, you need to choose your battles.  And I choose calorie and fat this time.  THIS IS WHY WE CALL IT "JOE'S DIET OF CONVENIENCE!"   I can make an argument for all of my choices, based on it's convenience to me.  :-)

So Anyway, I fired up the Blackstone and threw on all 6 chicken steaks for Kristyn & I to split.  Cut up and ton of peppers and onions and topped it with some Frank's Red Hot sauce with some toast.  You are looking at 1/2 a sandwich and a bunch of extra veggies on the side.  Extra loaded up on the veggies because my sister told me something really great the other day.  She was saying that she makes lots of vegetables because when you just want to keep eating, you can keep eating vegetables with no guilt! (paraphrasing, but that's what I took from the conversation.)  This came out really great!  The trick for me was to not overcook the veggies so they were not mushy or gooey.  Got 1 more box of these chicken steaks to cook up another day.  Looking forward to it!

                             

Dinner:  Blackstone meal #2 - Burgers, zucchini & squash.  These burgers were actually made about a month ago.  I balled up some burgers from the ground beef I had bought, but it made 8 burgers.  So I froze 4 of them for later.  These had to be defrosted as balls and then cooked.  I just threw the balls on the griddle and smashed them down.  I wouldn't call them "Smashburgers" because they are generally thinner, but they were similar I guess, in some ways.  The zucchini and squash came out just "ok" because I think I over-oiled them in an effort to make them not dry.  Over did it.  

                                

Oh - again with the extra veggies - we cooked up a bunch of carrot sticks that Kristyn had pre-cut the other day.  BUT I totally forgot about them until dinner was over.  So I picked at them on the counter until they were all gone.  Great call!  I enjoyed the carrots as sticks.  Came out great. 

Snack: So a sort of standing tradition is to hang out with Boita and Zelizo for the MLB All-Star Game.  Almost thought it wasn't happening this year, but it did when we got the last minute text.  All of us were ready to rock, so once the kids were in bed, I hopped over there.  This type of night can become problematic for me with chips and stuff, and Boita had a bag of Crunchy ridgey cheddar and sour cream chips.  OMG they were good!  I jumped on that and on the pretzels.  BUT I put them on a plate instead of just eating out of the bag.  I limited myself somewhat, and it was not too bad.   I also had a little bit of the Lagavulin scotch that I brought.  All in all, could have gone much worse for a late night hang.

Weight Loss Update: as of 7/12/23 at 8am, I was up 1.1 pounds from yesterday and down a total of 9.2 from the beginning.  I'm not upset about the 1.1 gain, because yesterday, I went down 3.9 pounds and that is not realistic.  So to come back, have 3 meals with bread and the chips at night and still be at a -2.8 from 48 hours ago - that's great to me!

Day 9 - A 3.9 Pound Day! I can get used to this

 

Breakfast: 2 chocolate chip pancakes.  This was quick and easy.  And a small portion.  Sometimes, it's about getting really good food in.  Sometimes, it's about limiting the portion.  Today - for breakfast - it was just about limiting the portion.  Needed something quick and those Eggo Chocolate chip pancakes are actually quite good!  They hit the spot.

Lunch:  My complete salad!  I added the shredded cheese and sunflower seeds to my salad today to get what is considered my "complete" salad.  This is what I would always get at the Pizza Hut salad bar back in the day, and later at the Charlie Brown's salad bar.  Delicious!!!  (The sunflower seeds are probably a little stale, but they are still good.  I'll use them for another couple weeks before I toss them.)

Snacks: A handful of M&Ms and about 15 white cheddar cheezits.  Had a little bit of a snack during the day - just picked a little.  BUT I want to draw your attention to the photo below.  These Oreos:  They are typically my kryptonite for snacking.  It's not whether I eat them or now.  It's whether I eat 4 or 8 of them!  But these oreos have been in our snack cabinet now for at least 5 days and I have not had even one of them!  I open the cabinet and consider it.  I have even pulled back the plastic covering to pull one out before stopping myself.  I've given oreos to the kids.  BUT I have not had even one!  It's amazing how much longer they last when I'm not getting my grubby little paws into them!

Dinner: Beef & Broccoli - Kristyn made this awesome meal.  I don't know much about the meat that is in there, but I'm pretty sure it's a healthy version of beef.  It is in a fancier package than when I buy any type of beef.  This meal was really tasty and I had exactly what you see.  No more, no less. 

Snacks: Maybe a handful of Cheez-its

Workout:  Treadmill workout #2.  I did 40 minutes again.  This time, I made it up to 2.13 miles (+.13 from last time) and 291 calories burned, according to the treadmill - which I think it probably a little low, but whatever.)  I watched Season 2, Episode 2 of "Only Murders In the Building" on Hulu during this walk.  Was great.  I changed it up by walking at 3.0 MPH the whole time BUT bumping it up to 5.0 MPH at every commercial break.  This got me the extra 0.13 miles.  Good stuff.  Will try to add a little distance each time, working my way up to 3.1 miles (5K.)

WEIGHT LOSS UPDATE: As of 7/11/23 at 8am, I am down 3.9 pounds from yesterday and a total of 10.3 in the first 9 days.  Now . .. I think it's highly possible that perhaps I didn't REALLY lose 4 pounds in 1 day.  I probably didn't have enough water in the later part of the day and I did eat really well, so while it looks good on paper, I'm not convinced this number isn't gonna even out in the next day or two.  But I'll use it as motivation and I can say I'm down 10 pounds already!  4 more to get back where I was in April.