weight loss in your 40s – Lobster Shorts

July 21, 2022 Lobster Shorts cooking, vegetarian, weight loss

Shark Week Begins and Wednesday Week Two Of Calorie Counting

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet/nutritional advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professiona

Shark week started today. I mean it sort of started yesterday but wasn’t really fully committed yet. Today it came full steam ahead, but with only minor cramps. I’m pretty sure there are fewer cramps because of all the lattes I’ve been drinking lately. More calcium seems to make a big difference for me. This evening I had a delicious matcha latte sweetened with maple syrup while working on the 3000-piece puzzle. Still not done yet and I miss my table.

Today’s fine dining pleasures consisted of an English muffin with egg and avocado, black coffee, lots of tea and sparkling water, a can of chili, apple sauce, and a granola bar. I had a bit of time before I met up with Mr. Lobster Shorts so I headed to a local gourmet shop (Vincenzo’s) looking for rosewater and espresso beans. They grind their beans for you at the shop while you wait. I kept smelling the bag on the way home. I love the smell of coffee beans. I picked up the rosewater because I want to make some sort of floral cookie this weekend. I don’t even know if I’ll need that, but I probably will and if not, I’m sure I’ll find something to do with it.

I was feeling worn out from shark week and walking the dogs, so my spouse offered to make dinner. We both love gnocchi and he’s been super excited to try the gnocchi dinner from Hello Fresh. He followed my request and gave me a 75% smaller portion than his. The calories on the bag per serving were 690 calories. Since I didn’t make dinner and I forgot to ask him if the gnocchi was in a separate bag with a separate calorie count, this could in fact be way higher in calories than I think it is. I left the calorie count as a full serving to try and make up the calorie difference if there was one.

Wednesday	Calories
english muffin	140
egg	78
avocado	160
chili	400
apple sauce	45
granola bar	150
apple sauce	45
hello fresh gnocchi	690
matcha latte	205
orange juice	50

total calories	1963

Here is a chart with my calories for the day. Again it might be way higher. I wanted something comforting before bed and that’s when I had the matcha latte. I was also thirsty and had about 1/2 a cup of orange juice.

July 19, 2022July 21, 2022 Lobster Shorts Food, vegetarian, weight loss

Monday Week Two Of Calorie Counting

It’s the start of a new week and I did really good today. As per usual, I had an English muffin with egg and avocado for breakfast, with coffee. Lunch was chili and lots of tea and later a snack of apple sauce. All the Hello Fresh meals were gone and I wanted a Harvey’s veggie burger.

The calories for a Harvey’s veggie burger are awesome! 310 calories! I thought that must be for the patty only, but I checked and the patty is only 150 calories. Yes, please! I love their veggie burgers. Since this likely didn’t have any toppings calculated in, I just guessed my toppings were around 150 calories. For toppings, I always order “everything” which is ketchup, mustard, relish, lettuce, tomato, pickle, and onion. They messed up my order and instead of putting on the sauces I asked for, they put chipotle on my burger. Good enough, I didn’t go in and exchange the burger. It was still good, but I definitely prefer my menagerie of toppings. The messier a burger, the yummier.

My spouse likes to order fries with his meal and I pretend I don’t and eat his fries lol. He is also trying to lose a few pounds and opted just for the burger. I wanted to get some extra veggies into my diet and ordered a garden salad with balsamic dressing. I ate the salad while we waited for the burgers. I wasn’t able to eat the last bite of my burger. This is a pretty good strategy for me, eat the salad first. I ended up being over full because I liked the burger. That is another issue I have with food. If I really like something, I end up eating more than is comfortable for me. I’ve been pretty good about not over-stuffing myself lately, but I did end up doing that with the burger.

Monday	Calories
english muffin	140
egg	78
avocado	160
chili	400
apple sauce	45
garden salad	40
salad dress	90
veggie burger	310
burger toppings	150
wine	200
popcorn	160

total calories	1773

I did really good today and stuck with my goal – 1800 calories or less. I did get hungry later in the day and split a bag of popcorn with Jay. I also had a glass of wine while I worked on a puzzle. It all fit into my calorie budget and I’m happy with how the day went.

July 15, 2022July 14, 2022 Lobster Shorts cooking, thrifting, vegetarian, weight loss

Pope Mugs, Dirty Matcha Lattes, and Why I Feel Scammed By Hello Fresh (but still love it)

I found something out today and I’m annoyed. Hello Fresh comes packaged individually for each dinner and sometimes extra food items that need to stay extra cold are left out to be in contact with the ice everything is shipped in. Each bag has the number of calories per serving on it and I thought that the calorie count included everything in the whole dinner. I started making the sesame salad recipe for that evening’s dinner, I looked at the calorie count and it said 240 calories… What? I knew the Beyond Meat patty that was included in the dinner would have had around that many calories by itself. There was no way. I looked at the calories on the Beyond Meat package and it was around 300 calories per patty. There were two patties! LIES! So what I think is happening, is that Hello Fresh is only listing the calories in the bag and anything extra you need to add has its own separate calories. I’m so annoyed. The calories should be listed as the whole dinner. I get why they wouldn’t add the oil you use from your own kitchen into it because you can use whatever oil you choose and they wouldn’t have access to that info… but when it’s an included ingredient and it’s part of the recipe!? – Add it to the calorie count! Grrr. That means my calorie counts are under for the last two days, I never added oil either. Now I know and can adjust for the future. Don’t get me wrong, I love Hello Fresh and will continue to buy it, but that’s annoying. Also, no wonder I didn’t find the last two days very difficult.

As for what I ate today and the calories (this time the count is more correct), it started out with my usual egg on an English muffin and black coffee. I ran out of avocado so I had the sandwich with cheese. Pretty good, but I do love my avocado and missed it. Lunch was chili in a can, the same kind I’ve been having repeatedly for lunch, Sprague brand from Costco and really good.

On the way home I stopped at a thrift store hoping to find a teapot. Mine was broken over the weekend. I loved it and I’m so hopeful I can find another one. This one was special because you could heat it with a tea candle and your pot of tea would stay hot for hours. I really loved it. I did not find a replacement teapot, but I did find clothing items and these pope mugs! I did not buy the pope mugs, sorry.

Dinner was sesame salad from Hello Fresh, it was really good and I’m pretty sure I’ve got the calories right now. There were almost enough calories left for a dirty matcha latte. I knew I’d go over a bit but I wanted one.

I make my dirty matcha latte with a shot of Tia Maria Matcha, a cup of whole milk, and a teaspoon of matcha. It was pretty good. I prefer the latte sweetened with maple syrup and not Tia Maria, but sometimes I want the naughty version. I’ll post my daily calorie count in the chart below. I couldn’t find the calorie count for Tia Maria Matcha, so I used the calories for Tequila Rose, I figured they would be similar.

Thursday	Calories
english muffin	140
egg	78
cheese	113
coffee	0
tea	0
goldfish crackers under 20	45
chili	400
apple sauce x2	90
granola bar	160
hello fresh kit	240
beyond meat patty	300
tia maria matcha	69
whole milk	160
matcha	10

Total	1805

July 14, 2022 Lobster Shorts cooking, vegetarian, weight loss

What I Ate Today With Calorie Count Day 2 -July 13 2022

Before I go into what I ate today, I will give you a weight update. Unfortunately, I have gained the weight I lost for the wedding back. I was 169lbs on my wedding day and currently weighing 177lbs this morning. It’s disappointing to have lost all that headway. I did OMAD (one meal a day) to lose weight before the wedding. I don’t want to do that again. My history with fast weight loss and diets hasn’t done a lot for me. An 1800 daily calorie limit seems to be more sustainable. I’ve only done it for two days and even in these two days I wanted to do late-night snacking with binge foods, but it wasn’t a big deal not to have them. It’s been great for stopping from grabbing fizzy sweet drinks from the fridge – not soda, but it might as well be. Instead, I’ve been drinking sparkling unflavoured water. It’s not bad!

Breakfast and lunch were my go-to’s: English muffin with avocado and egg and a bowl of chili. As usual, I had coffee with breakfast and tea during the day. I got a latte on the way to work from The Snapping Turtle. I love it without any sweeteners or flavorings, while my spouse loves hazelnut. I do really like the flavor shots in a latte, but I only want a couple sips, while with a straight latte I love it right to the end. This is very strange to me because I have such a sweet tooth.

I did manage to skip the M&Ms today, but not the granola bar for the ride home. I also had some apple sauce as well. Dinner was paneer curry from Hello Fresh and it was really good. The calories were 560 per serving and although I had less than half, I was munching on the cheese bits and peppers while I was cooking it, so I used the full calorie count.

I did get hungry later in the evening and I munched on some cherries. The cherries were SO good. I was thinking of having chocolate, but I didn’t want to go over my calorie count for the day and 2 cups of cherries seemed better than one small piece of chocolate (I was snacky!), so I had that. I managed to stick to my calorie count for the day and feel pretty good about how things are going. I’ll post the calorie chart for the day below:

Wednesday	Calories
english muffin	140
egg	78
Avocado 1/2	160
black coffee	0
latte w/whole milk	136
tea	0
chili	400
apple sauce	45
granola bar	160
Hello Fresh paneer curry	560
Cherries 2 cups	100

Total Calories	1779

July 13, 2022July 13, 2022 Lobster Shorts cooking, Food, vegetarian, weight loss

The Monotony Of Counting Calories and What I Ate Today – July 12 2022

I’ve tried tons of diets. If they include a vegetarian lifestyle (even if they don’t I can usually adapt it to one), I’ve probably tried it. I’ve even tried Keto, which I did notice increased my libido. I’m taking a guess here and assuming that means my everyday diet includes too much sugar/carbs. Keto was not a diet I was able to stick with, even with the unexpected benefits. Like every other diet I’ve tried, it was quickly cast aside and any benefits I gained were quickly lost, or it just didn’t work. I’m sad to say, there is no miracle solution to weight loss for me.

I really dislike counting calories. It’s monotonous, tedious, and annoying, but I need to do it. For the last few weeks, I assumed I was eating pretty well with fewer calories, but I didn’t lose any weight. It was time to figure out where I was going wrong and have a better understanding of how much I was eating. I knew I was doing a couple things wrong. I was eating too much junk food and portioning out the same amount of food as my spouse, who is a male. I do not require the same amount of calories as a grown man, therefore I really shouldn’t be eating the same portion sizes as one. I cut my portion size down to about 75% of what he was eating, yet still didn’t notice any weight loss.

I started a spreadsheet chart and am aiming to eat around 1800 calories a day. Sundays I’ll be a little more lax. I’ll post the results of what I ate on July 11/2022.

Monday	Calories
Avocado eggs benny	563
coffee	0
tea	0
chilli	400
m&ms	100
granola bar	160
apple sauce	45
strawberries	18
cola – a couple sips from my spouse	10
curry	680

Totals	1976

As you can see I went over my 1800-calorie goal on my first day.

Tuesday I had an egg sandwich with avocado for breakfast.

For lunch, I had a can of vegetarian chili I got at Costco: Sprague. They are great for lunch – heat and eat. Although this photo does NOT look appetizing, the chili is actually really good, with a slight hint of heat. I really like it and plan on having it for lunch during the work week, until I eventually want something else.

Dinner I have been making Hello Fresh for a couple weeks now and I LOVE IT!!! They have about 6 vegetarian meals to choose from every week. I just noticed that they have the calories for each meal listed on the bag. SUPER helpful. Even though it’s pretty expensive it keeps me from getting takeout on the commute home. That was a huge problem for me. I have been having granola bars on the ride home which isn’t great, but I notice the dogs get a better walk when we get home if I’m not starving, as they are always walked before dinner. I tend to become a homebody after dinner and prefer to walk them beforehand. That usually means we eat really late at night, but so far that’s how it’s going for us.

Last night was fatoush salad from Hello Fresh and was one of the lower calorie items: only 480 calories per serving! I usually divide the dinner into three as Hello Fresh usually has generous portion sizes, giving my spouse lunch to take to work the next day, but because the calories were so low, I only divided it in two (I did not dole out a smaller portion size than my spouse this time lol). It was really good. I loved it. I’ll post the results of the calories I ate for the whole day:

Tuesday	Calories
english muffin	140
egg	78
Avocado 1/2	160
black coffee	0
Lemondade 1 cup	100
bite of a scone	30
tea	0
Chilli 1 can	400
m&ms 1/8 cup	100
tea	0
apple sauce	45
granola	160
raspberries	65
fatoush salad	480
chocolate cracker	30

Total	1788

That chocolate cracker was had late at night and right before bed. It wasn’t necessary, but since I would stay within my allotted calorie count for the day, I ate it. Not exactly the precedence I want to set. These little things add up and could interfere with my goals.

Overall I think I did really good yesterday and hope to keep it up. My intentions usually fall apart and instead of picking myself up and continuing, I scrap the whole process. I’d like to stop doing that and figure out a way to stick with it carrying on with my goals. It’s something I need to work on in myself and learn to figure out.

August 31, 2021August 31, 2021 Lobster Shorts Food, vegetarian, weight loss

August 31 2021

Shark week has begun and I am getting cravings. I want cookies! I am trying my best to ignore them. Last night I got take out at the Pita Pit – a small halloumi pita. I finished the whole thing. In the future I’m hoping to cut that down. I’m not sure how many calories are in a pita, the small size is pretty big. I’m hoping to shrink my portion sizes down and polishing the whole thing off isn’t helping. I recall not being able to finish one back when I was 20lbs lighter. I’m sure I’ll be getting pitas again in the near future.

When I got home from work I went for a jog on the treadmill. My speed was 3.7 again and I went a little further on the distance and for a longer duration. My goal on the treadmill is to keep it at around 30 minutes, but to increase the speed. My legs are tired, but so far my hip muscles aren’t bothering me like last time. I think that’s pretty fantastic, but I usually feel the previous days workout in the evening the next day, so I might still be in for some more discomfort.

I was sweaty. I snacked on a banana before I went to bed and had some sparkling water. I would have had more water, but I didn’t want to be up all night peeing. I need to improve my water intake. I’m pretty sure I live in a constant state of dehydration. I don’t seem to care to drink anything unless it’s coffee or alcohol. I never seem to be thirsty.

Breakfast started with a smoothie bowl and coffee. For lunch I had a can of Campbell’s Moroccan Chickpea soup. I’ll be going out for sushi after work today and I’m really not sure how I’m going to make that healthy. It’s a buffet. I’ll have to make up for it by eating healthier on Friday and the weekend.

Disclaimer. I am not a medical professional, nutritionist, or anyone with any business giving diet advice. This is my own personal journey. When it comes to yourself, seek the advice of a medical professional

August 28, 2021 Lobster Shorts Food, vegetarian, weight loss

Saturday Breakfast and Workout

Every Saturday, my spouse and I go to the Stone Town Cafe. We go every week, it’s a tradition we started back when our dog was still alive. The three of us would get egg and cheese sandwiches. The owner of the café always had a couple cookies for her, sometimes a few of the café regulars too. She was stuffed by the time we went home. I miss her a lot. She loved her Saturday morning treats.

We’ve kept with the tradition, and still go every Saturday. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of eggs at home and have wanted something different. I’ve been getting the Mediterranean wrap. It’s healthy with lots of veggies and light on the cheese. I get it with a coffee.

On the way home from breakfast, I went to Kitchen Smidgen for some sweet treats. They had one of my favourites, custard tarts. One for both of us and a meringue to split. One bite each lol. It’s probably lucky for me that the bakery is only open Fridays and Saturdays. I feel it’s okay to splurge on weekends.

Lunch I made an attempt at green curry without a recipe. It was okay. It had tofu, green curry paste, coconut milk, and veggies. I served it over brown rice. I did some weeding today and I just sat on my butt in the garden to do it. My thighs are still burning like crazy from the Start It Up workout I did two days ago. I’m making sounds when I sit down and stand. You know… huhhhhhhh what did I do to myself groany sounds… Every time I sit or stand. I did the Slim In 6 Ab workout. That’s all my legs would allow. I wanted to save the stretching video for tomorrow.

This was dinner this evening. Avocado and egg on a whole wheat bun, a piece of cheese. I’m still craving this non stop. No signs of getting sick of it anytime soon. I had a slice of pie this evening and a glass of red wine. I forgot to take a picture of the pie. It was strawberry rhubarb pie with a sugar crumble topping, homemade. I’m going to be splurging a little tomorrow too. Sunday is big breakfast day. Once it cools down a little I’d like to spend some more time outside. It’s still very hot here in Ontario.

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021 Lobster Shorts Food, vegetarian, weight loss

Snack Boxes, Cookies, and Pizza… Oh My

Here we are again, avocado and an egg on an English muffin, served with coffee. I love this breakfast. I could eat this every day, multiple times over and over and over again. Just talking about it, I want to eat it again.

I didn’t bring my lunch to work today, I was going to make something when I got home. My snack box from Vegan Cuts came in and I dug into it on the way home.

I split this rice krispie square with my spouse. Then novelty of having rice Krispy squares again was wonderful, the square was okay.

I split this cookie from the snack box too. I don’t want to dump on a product, but this was really gross. We both took only a bite and didn’t want anymore. It tasted really plastic like.

We tried these Snacklins and I really liked them. Lots of snacks, right… well there’s more.

I stopped in at the Snapping Turtle again for a dreamy latte and a cookie. This time the cookie was MY idea. I had forgotten I hadn’t had lunch yet. They didn’t have my favourite peanut butter cookie, but they had these chocolate covered coffee bean shaped ones and they left the café with me. One for each of us.

I didn’t really need lunch at this point, but still wanted something else, so I tried the new cheese from the Cheese Of The Month Club from the local cheese shop. I’m not sure what kind of cheese it is, but it has chili peppers in it and super good with a wonderful nip to it.

To make my day even healthier, I had pizza for dinner with wine, again. It was tasty.

I got everything I needed to do today done around 8:00pm and I really wasn’t feeling up to a workout. My legs were still really sore from yesterday and I just didn’t have it in me. I am trying to form a habit, (don’t they say it takes around 30 days?) of daily exercise and I didn’t want to start slacking off before I’d even hit a week. No days off. So I did this arm workout again. I didn’t do well. I had to put my arms down constantly and give them a shake many many times. I was doing push ups (very very modified push ups) yesterday with Slim In 6 and I don’t think my arms had recovered enough for this one. It was probably the day I should have done stretching, but I really wasn’t in the mood to set up the DVD player and change my clothes.

It wasn’t my best day, but I was saving Friday to Sunday for cheat days. I didn’t want to eat quite this badly on Friday, but I’m not going to beat myself up about it. I’m hungry, so I’m going to snack on some pickles before bed.

Which turned into a slice of strawberry rhubarb pie

August 26, 2021 Lobster Shorts Food, lifestyle, vegetarian, weight loss

Back To Pound Town

This morning for breakfast I had an English muffin with an egg and 1/2 an avocado with a coffee. I love this breakfast, it’s so tasty and satisfying. I want two eggs, but have stuck with one cut in half for each side because I know it’s enough. I want the second egg because I like how tasty it is, but I don’t need it, I just want it.

For lunch I had a can of Campbell’s Moroccan Chickpea Soup and snacked on cherry tomatoes. I made another pit stop to the Snapping Turtle with my spouse again, but this time I told him no cookies, just the latte. I still had a bite of his, because the peanut butter cookies there are magical. Just a bite though.

My spouse surprised me with dinner while I was playing in my craft room. It was wine and a frozen pizza. He cooks them really well. The crust was wonderfully crunchy. It wasn’t the healthiest meal, but it was nice not to have to cook. I had some pickles and a chunk of cheese before dinner. I was hungry.

My hips were still super sore in the morning from jogging a couple days ago, but they were fine enough by the evening to get out the Slim In 6 tape again. I did the Start It Up workout again and it left me sweaty and breathless. I had to modify a small section of the arm part (most of that is from yesterday’s torture in the gym), but I did most of it. I did manage to get through the rest of it.

Here’s my post workout face for your viewing pleasure.

August 25, 2021 Lobster Shorts Food, lifestyle, vegetarian, weight loss

Day Four – Eight Minutes of Discomfort

Breakfast today was made by my spouse, an English muffin with a fried egg, and cheese. I snacked on more cherry tomatoes during the morning while I was at work.

This… this was my lunch today. I must admit, it was magical. I do love my cookies and lattes. It wasn’t my intention to get a cookie, the plan was just to get a latte and make lunch when I got home. My spouse was the one to go into the Snapping Turtle on the way home from work (it was only a half day for me today) and he came back with lattes and cookies. I COULD have said no… but I love these cookies, they’re so good. I was still going to make a lunch when I got home, but I was full, so I waited for dinner to eat again.

It appears I am still on a halloumi kick, I had salad with the leftover farro and halloumi from a couple days ago. This time I used a commercially prepared balsamic vinaigrette for the dressing. It was a huge plateful and I didn’t finish it all in one go. The plate was close by (I had dinner on the couch watching a movie) and I ended up finishing the salad by the time the movie ended. I had a glass of wine with it.

My hips (hip muscles) are pretty sore today from yesterdays jog on the treadmill and I didn’t feel like doing anything overly sweaty today. I remembered this arm workout a friend sent me awhile ago. It’s a short arm workout and it’s HARD. Quick and intense, is an accurate description! I had to put my arms down A LOT during this video and eight minutes isn’t that long. It’s easy and simple in that you can do it anywhere, even at work at your desk! I did it with my spouse and we were laugh crying it was so hard. We made it to the end and did as much as we could. I liked this one a lot and plan on doing it often. It’s perfect for when you’re looking for something quick and you don’t want to sweat buckets.

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